This post is in response to a comment from Ronald Gries. He responded to my question, “where are the increasing COVID deaths?” He wrote;
“You ask where the deaths are. Per the (Detroit) Free Press today, according to Michigan state data, more than 500 Michiganders have died from COVID -19 in October compared to less than 300 in September. Michigan saw more deaths this month than any since May.”
This is true, but it is important to look at this as compared to the number of infections. This figure on Michigan’s daily infections and deaths from Johns’ Hopkins illustrates the unique dichotomy about the “third wave.”
The number of new cases has tripled In October to over 3,400 a day, while the number of deaths has only inched up. The daily number of cases is now twice what was seen in March, but the number of daily deaths is 1/10 of what was happening then.
Again, we are doing a lot more testing, so maybe we do have more diagnosed cases, but even if we are at the same level of infection as were seen in March, the death rates don’t compare. Hospitalizations are also much lower.
This is good news, and as I had suggested, may be due to either better care or to younger people being infected.
It is time to acknowledge the change in COVIID-19 infection and see how it impact healthcare resources. We cannot continue to delay care for other health problems to protect resources for COVID-19.
Pandemic Pondering 
One huge difference from the Spring is that nursing homes and senior care facilities are under much better control.
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In my state, the number of cases went down last week, but deaths increased (this from the state health department). Our hospitals are close to full due to COVID-19, whereas in the spring and summer admissions were quite manageable. I wonder if it is taking some people longer to die now, so that’s why some places are seeing fewer deaths. We should be doing much more testing now since we expect to see more respiratory illness this time of year and now we add COVID-19 to the differential. So it would seem the rate of positives should go down, but I’m not sure that is happening either. If the health system is overwhelmed with COVID, other health care may get delayed by default.
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