Since many common household disinfection products are in short supply, some have been substituting products not meant for use in the home. The Michigan Poison Center at the Wayne State University School of Medicine has received more than 80 calls regarding accidental misuse of automotive products, household industrial cleaning products and disinfectants. “We’ve had a few instances of people ingesting it (hand sanitizer),” said Denise Kolakowski, an educator with the center. “We’re not shocked because we understand that people are scared.” The center has recently issued a reminder about disinfection products.

As of Tuesday, black people made up 33% of cases in Michigan and 40% of deaths, despite being just 14% of the state’s population. This racial disparity is also reflected in other states, although some states have not released data broken down by race, including New York, deemed to be the country’s epicenter. Years of slavery, racism, and discrimination have compounded to deliver poor health and economic outcomes for blacks, including heart disease, diabetes, and poverty, that are only being magnified under the lens of the coronavirus pandemic. “What we are seeing is that because of the way COVID-19 attacks the body, in terms of what it does to the lungs and how it interacts with the part of the body that controls the blood system, people with hypertension are more susceptible to the illness itself,” said Phillip Levy, a professor of emergency medicine and assistant vice president of translational science and clinical research innovation at the Wayne State University School of Medicine.

Supported by a grant from Wayne State University President M. Roy Wilson, the WSU Physician Group has purchased four new devices that will provide rapid, on-site processing of COVID-19 test samples in Detroit. Th units are now in place in Detroit Medical Center hospitals. The units allow the hospitals to perform tests on high-risk patients in-house to avoid the delays of sending the tests to commercial laboratories. The devices provide results in less than an hour. “Rapid identification to facilitate appropriate isolation of COVID-19 patients is mission-critical to reducing the spread of COVID-19 in the hospital environment and the community,” said Dr. Charles Shanley, president and CEO of the physician group and vice dean of clinical affairs for the Wayne State University School of Medicine.

The nearly minute-by-minute onslaught of COIVD-19 related news is enough to leave most crestfallen. Governor Gretchen Whitmer is using a model that shows deaths and cases per day peaking in early May, while the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation model says Michigan will level off mid-April. Those are very different projections with very different outcomes – so, who’s right? Crain’s interviewed Hengguang Li, chair of Wayne State University’s mathematics department, to discuss the flaws of mathematical modeling.

The Michigan Poison Center at the Wayne State University School of Medicine is urging people to only use disinfection products intended for household use. The poison center says many of these products are in short supply, so some people have been resorting to substituting products instead. Misusing some products is dangerous, and can be life-threatening.

The Michigan Poison Center at the Wayne State University School of Medicine is urging people to only use disinfection products intended for household use. The poison center says many of these products are in short supply, so some people have been resorting to substituting products instead. Misusing some products is dangerous, and can be life-threatening.

The economic slowdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic is wreaking havoc on the finances of Detroit, a city just six years removed from exiting the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. Mayor Mike Duggan said that he expects the city will run a $100 million deficit this fiscal year amid the COVID-19 crisis. He said that while there will be “painful cuts” as a result, shelling out to protect residents remains Detroit’s priority. “We’re going to spend what we need to, to take care of our residents,” Duggan said. “Then as a community, we’re going to have to deal with the fact that we have a major budget deficit.” Duggan’s administration has worked to build up its reserves and a strong management team, as part of a forecasting partnership with Wayne State University and the University of Michigan.

Arash Javanbakht, director of the Stress, Trauma, and Anxiety Research Clinic and a professor of psychiatry at Wayne State University, discusses maintaining mental health during the coronavirus pandemic. “We can be physically distant and safe, but not be a-social. The idea of socially distancing from other people and not being connected is scary to us because we’re social creatures,” he said. “There are multiple stressors that people are dealing with at this time. In fact, a lot of factors that contribute to stress, trauma, and anxiety, in general, are happening right now. Transition is always stressful, and everybody is going through multiple transitions, from changes in work style and family balance, and having to stay home and develop a new routine. All of those changes happened fairly suddenly.”

The Michigan Poison Center at the Wayne State University School of Medicine is urging people to only use disinfection products intended for household use. The poison center says many of these products are in short supply, so some people have been resorting to substituting products instead. Misusing some products is dangerous, and can be life-threatening.

Another 77 people in Michigan have died due to COVID-19, pushing total deaths up to 617 – a 14 percent increase from Saturday. The number of new cases in the state increased by 1,493 from Saturday, brining the total to 15,718, according to data from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. The city of Detroit, which has by far the largest number of cases and deaths in the state, reported an additional 27 deaths over the 24-hour period, bringing its total death count to 158. The number of cases in the city hit 4,495, an increase of 545 from the previous day. At least five health care workers have died in Southeast Michigan from COVID-19 since early March. Wayne State University’s School of Social Work and College of Nursing are launching a crisis hotline Tuesday, April 7 to offer support for first responders and health care workers on the front lines of the outbreak.

Beaumont Health, the state’s largest health care system, informed employees that anyone who refuses a transfer to work with COVID-19 patients will be considered to have resigned and ineligible for future employment. The policy provides exceptions for those with underlying conditions, and comes amid increasing angst in Metro Detroit hospital systems that are reaching capacity in the face of the nation’s third largest outbreak of the coronavirus. Adding to the stress is the news of deaths and hospitalizations of colleagues and concerns over shortages of protective equipment. “There has not been a time, in my lifetime, of so much angst and tension in the healthcare community,” said Dr. Richard Balon, program director for the psychiatry residency at Detroit Medical Center and a professor of psychiatry and anesthesiology at Wayne State University's School of Medicine. “We are facing an additional crisis – mental health issues in healthcare workers due to this enormous pressure, tension, the push to make difficult decisions, feelings of lack of support, lack of protection, long hours, not being with their families, and worry about endangering their families by bringing the infection home.”

Wayne State University football coach Paul Winters has found a silver lining. The coach may have lost spring practice, but he has already tackled the work he usually reserves for June and July. In some ways, he said, “I will be better prepared for a season than I ever have.” As the novel coronavirus has rocked the country and shut down the sports world, there is growing anxiety within college athletics about the prospect of football not being played in 2020. That uncertainty is palpable in Michigan, and 21 colleges or universities that have NCAA football programs in the Football Bowl Subdivision, Division II or III were polled about their thoughts on the upcoming season.

A Wayne State University employee who was also studying for a degree in sociology died from complications related to the coronavirus, WSU President M. Roy Wilson announced Saturday. Darrin Adams worked at the university for almost six years as a custodian, primarily in Manoogian Hall. “He was one of us, and we all grieve his loss. Darrin leaves behind family and friends, and we keep them in our thoughts as they deal with this unexpected loss. We hope that their grief is assuaged by good memories of a life well lived,” Wilson said.

More instant tests are in the hands of Detroit doctors fighting against the coronavirus pandemic. Wayne State University Physician Group has purchased four new devices that quickly deliver COVID-19 test results. The devices can process a total of 500 tests each day and provide results within an hour. They will be placed in Detroit hospitals so patients who test positive can be isolated immediately. “Once patients have symptoms or they have contracted the virus, the most important thing is access to testing, and the faster we can get the results from testing the better job we will be able to do,” said Dr. Charles Shanley, CEO of Wayne State University Physician Group.

All 11 counts in an 8-month-old lawsuit filed in September against Wayne State University have been dismissed. University Pediatricians, a 220-member private pediatrics group once affiliated with Wayne State that practices at DMC Children’s Hospital of Michigan, accused the university of taking nearly $61 million in Medicaid funds. Michigan Court of Claims Judge Cynthia Stephens rejected University Pediatrician’s argument. Dr. Herman B. Gray, chair of WSU’s Department of Pediatrics, hailed the judge’s decision to dismiss the case and said Wayne State used public dollars properly. “This is an outstanding decision for Wayne State University, and validates the university’s position that the Medicaid funds were used appropriately,” said Gray. “It has been our position that Wayne State has always acted with honesty and integrity, and that has been supported by this decisive legal victory.”

A group of doctors is helping test first responders get tested in southeast Michigan, but local law enforcement say it could be beneficial statewide. “We’re very appreciative of what this physician’s group is doing,” said Saginaw Township Police Chief Donald Pussehl. Wayne State University physicians have tested 1,800 first responders in southeast Michigan at no cost. Pussehl, and other first responders to help expand Wayne State’s mobile COVID-19 testing.

Wayne State University announced that the school will soon have a new Eports Gaming Lounge. The lounge will have gaming stations with televisions, as well as Alienware Aurora R9s with games, including Fortnite, League of Legends, Overwatch, and more. Construction on the lounge is expected to start soon, and is slated to open in the lower level of the Student Center Building in the fall.

Black people make up over a third of all COVID-19 cases in Michigan, according to data from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. While black people make up only about 12% of the state’s population, they make up about 40% of all COVID-19 deaths reported. Jonathan Stillo, an assistant professor of anthropology, works right in the city where the highest concentration of cases and deaths exists – Detroit. Stillo says the pandemic was always going to adversely affect vulnerable populations, which includes impoverished communities. “These racial breakdowns we have here could be used to justify the allocation of resources that could help cities like Detroit, even beyond this COVID crisis,” he said. “Certain people are really suffering right now, and they’re people who have the same right to health and security as anyone else does. Maybe this crisis can highlight that.”

ll 11 counts in an 8-month-old lawsuit filed in September against Wayne State University have been dismissed. University Pediatricians, a 220-member private pediatrics group once affiliated with Wayne State that practices at DMC Children’s Hospital of Michigan, accused the university of taking nearly $61 million in Medicaid funds. Michigan Court of Claims Judge Cynthia Stephens rejected University Pediatrician’s argument. Dr. Herman B. Gray, chair of WSU’s Department of Pediatrics, hailed the judge’s decision to dismiss the case and said Wayne State used public dollars properly. “This is an outstanding decision for Wayne State University, and validates the university’s position that the Medicaid funds were used appropriately,” said Gray. “It has been our position that Wayne State has always acted with honesty and integrity, and that has been supported by this decisive legal victory.”

ACCESS Community Health and Research Center, in Dearborn, is among the sites offering drive-through COVID-19 testing for symptomatic medical personnel and first responders, who face exposure risks daily while on-the-job. In partnership with the Wayne State University Physician Group and Wayne State University Health Sciences, ACCESS is providing drive-through testing at two different locations. Dr. Phillip Levy, who is heading the drive-through testing initiative, is the assistant vice president for translational science and clinical research innovation at Wayne State University, and chief innovation officer for the Wayne State University Physician Group. His specialty is emergency medicine, and he is a professor of emergency medicine at Wayne State University. Levy said the people being swabbed are both grateful for the opportunity to be tested and afraid of what the test results might be. “They are afraid for their own health, and grateful that there are organizations such as Wayne State and the Wayne State Physician Group, as well as ACCESS, who are actually there to help them get some answers as to whether or not they are infected,” he said. Levy said they are only testing symptomatic people, in compliance with the NDHSS guidance.