KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — During a virtual County Commissioner meeting Tuesday night, County Health Officer Jim Rutherford provided an update as to where Kalamazoo County currently stands in the COVID-19 outbreak.
Rutherford spoke on Governor Whitmer’s order to reopen the state economy by region, in accordance with the MI Safe Start Plan. The plan already makes allowances for Northern Michigan opening first.
“I think it’s important to understand, as we go through this plan, the six different steps or ‘phases’ that the state considers when we look at the MI Safe Start Plan,” Rutherford said. “One would anticipate that these communities up north would fall under Category 5. Category 1 is the uncontrolled growth, and then they go all the way up to 6, which is post-pandemic.”
Rutherford says that it is currently unclear which phase Kalamazoo County falls under.
“We’re still trying to articulate or identify where Kalamazoo, as well as the rest of our region, falls within these six phases,” Rutherford said. “The challenge is that the data sets that are being used at the state level aren’t really clearly articulated at the local level, so I’m working with our regional epidemiologists, as well as my counterparts in upstate Michigan and the U.P., to get a better understanding of what some of the decision making is behind this.”
Rutherford added that another important factor to consider is the health system itself.
“Within the nine counties that are represented in region 3, which is called the Kalamazoo Region, I think Kalamazoo County will play an instrumental role in decision making, and the data that is being collected will be used in decision making,” Rutherford said. “The other outlier is Berrien County, and they’ve had a lot of activity alongside us.”
However, Rutherford says lack of testing is still an issue throughout the region.
“Within some of these other communities, there just hasn’t been a significant amount of testing, so to be put into these zones or regions, I think is gonna be a little interesting,” Rutherford said.
In Kalamazoo County, several thousand tests have already been administered by the Family Health Center (FHC).
Other factors include surge capacity and the availability of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
“Given the fact that we had very little sampling for the first two thirds of this incident, we’re still trying to work on the data to get a clear understanding of when we start to get that downward trajectory,” Rutherford said. “I do think we’re getting closer to being able to identify that, and it will be a big part of what we have moving forward.”
— Vulnerable Populations —
Rutherford also provided some updates into vulnerable populations, including elderly and homeless citizens.
“When we think about what health systems are trying to accomplish in terms of sanitation and in terms of reducing infection rates, that’s probably a challenging objective for them to take on in terms of providing quarantine,” Rutherford said. “When we look at quarantining individuals that don’t have the ability to quarantine at home, as we all know, these have been the most challenging populations that we’ve dealt with. I think it’s a true look in the mirror as it relates to our country overall in terms of how we are just not prepared to be able to provide the assistance that’s needed for these respective populations, many of which have mental health needs that are above and beyond what the average person needs, substance abuse issues, and there’s a lot of security considerations as well.”
That being said, Rutherford later said that the “two or three” facilities that the department was having the most challenges with have been stabilized.
“I think we have a pretty good handle on all the facilities,” Rutherford said.
— Herd Immunity —
Rutherford also answered questions relating to herd immunity, which refers to the concept of multiple citizens becoming sick with a virus and becoming immune in large numbers as a result.
“It’s important to remember that herd immunity is basically defined as the majority of a given population, 70-90 percent, becomes immune to an infectious disease because they become infected and recover or through vaccination,” Rutherford said. “So when this happens, the disease is less likely to spread to people who aren’t immune because there just aren’t enough infection carriers to reach them.”
However, Rutherford says that there would be consequences to this method.
“If we completely relied upon herd immunity within this particular event, as opposed to our attempts to flatten the curve, it would work, but more people would most likely ultimately die, and we would most likely have overwhelmed our health care system,” Rutherford said.
Furthermore, not enough information is presently known about the virus to understand how immunity works.
“Given that COVID-19 is novel, which means that it’s a new particular strain of virus, there’s an issue that we don’t really know how the immunity works within this virus,” Rutherford said. “We don’t even know if people at this point in time can be re-infected with COVID, or how long that particular immunity would last, so those are just some thinking points as it relates to Herd Immunity.”
— Further Information —
Information about the COVID-19 virus is changing daily. The latest information as it relates to Kalamazoo County can be found online at the Kalamazoo County Government Website.
Information about the virus on a State level can be found online at the Michigan COVID-19 response page. Further information is available at the CDC website.
