DETROIT (AP) - The mayor of Detroit expressed confidence in the city’s coronavirus turnaround Thursday and said residents with chronic conditions must be allowed to return to their doctors.
“The one thing that I’m really calling on the governor and our hospitals and our doctors to work on is opening up the rest of the medical system. … I think the day-to-day health care of a lot of Detroiters is being neglected,” Mayor Mike Duggan said.
To stop the spread of the virus, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in March banned visits and procedures that weren’t related to preserving the health or safety of patients. Duggan said it made sense but that it’s time to ease up.
“We’ve got people who aren’t going to the doctor to take care of their diabetes,” the mayor said. “We’ve got people with heart issues who have not gone in for angioplasty. We’ve got people who’ve been told you’ve got a lump, and they haven’t gone to get a biopsy for their cancer.”
Hospitals in Detroit have 700 open beds and an additional 100 open beds in intensive care units, he said.
“Having 700 empty beds is something we never saw in this city in a normal year,” said Duggan, a former hospital executive.
More than 1,000 Detroit residents have died from complications of COVID-19, a figure that represents 27% of all Michigan deaths. But Duggan noted the numbers are slowing down.
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