Fred Romankewiz was on his way to get vaccinated, but he didn’t feel well, so he canceled his appointment and did a Covid-19 test. Although he was inches from the coronavirus finish line, Lansing’s 54-year-old building materials seller has now tested positive.
“What is really frustrating for me is that it has been a year and what – three months now, and I played straight to the point. I mean, I did everything right,” said Romankewiz. “And then let that happen.”
Watching TV, responding to a steady stream of text messages and telling jokes from his hospital bed at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, Romankewiz said he is optimistic about his prospects for full recovery, but that the virus has killed him.
“I felt like I had spent 10 rounds with Mike Tyson,” he said. “I was absolutely physically exhausted. I mean, I felt like I was beaten up, like I was in a car accident. I mean, it was crazy.”
Romankewiz, who lives a healthy life and has no underlying diseases, said he contracted the virus from his 19-year-old son Andy. His wife, Betsy, who is fully vaccinated, also contracted the virus, but had minor symptoms.
Jim Dover, CEO and President of Sparrow Health System, a major healthcare provider in central Michigan, said that two things are driving the current surge: pandemic fatigue and mutations in the coronavirus that have made it more contagious and possibly more deadly.
“This variant is more virulent and therefore more infectious and easier to be infected,” said Dover. “Secondly, everyone is tired of wearing masks, so you’ll go out and see the lack of social distance, the lack of masks. The virus is invisible and people didn’t know they were walking through a Covid cloud, and the next thing you know, they are infected. “
Dangerous variant spreading across the state
At Beaumont Hospital’s Royal Oak, a facility of the largest health care provider in Wolverine State, the prevalence of variant B.1.1.7 is clear.
Dr. Justin Skrzynski is a hospitalist at Covid – a title that did not exist for a year – which means that he is a specialist in patient care at Covid. He said they sent a small sample of some of their cases to the state for DNA analysis.
“At the moment, the regular Covid test we do – still shows Covid (or) no Covid,” said Skrzynski. “But we have sent many of them to the state and we are seeing something like 40% of our patients now (with) B.1.1.7.”
Tina Catron, 44, is in the care of Skrzynski at Beaumont Health’s Royal Oak facility. The mother of two said she thinks her family has been infected with coronavirus through her children’s football league.
“We are not 100% sure,” she said, of how they all did it, “but we think of the football field, with the parents, even though they are all masked. Outside, everyone is screaming. And I think what happened is that my husband was with my son, his football game. And he brought it home. “
Fighting the virus on several fronts
Michigan health officials have indicated that schools and youth sports are possible vectors of the virus. Catron says that her son Levi, 9, and Jesse, 7, had no symptoms and that her husband became very ill but was not hospitalized.
She said she was shocked to be hospitalized. She is healthy, active and has no underlying diseases, but she needed hospitalization after developing pneumonia.
“You feel like you’re suffocating a little,” she said, clearing her throat and still struggling to breathe.
Michigan – whose Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, has suffered a strong reaction from Republicans, businessmen and others because of his restrictions on the coronavirus – is fighting the virus on several fronts. Vaccines are being launched, with about 600,000 michiganders receiving an injection each week; the economy is reopening, with some restrictions being lifted; and many are returning to pre-pandemic life without masks or social detachment.
The 40-49 age group is seeing a similar increase, with 58 being admitted daily, compared with 33 during the fall increase. For those aged 60 and over, hospitalizations declined dramatically as vaccinations increased.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services says that 35.2% of Michigan adults received at least one dose of vaccine and 21.5% were fully vaccinated.
Health professionals were “thrown in a curved ball”
Dr. Lynda Misra, medical director of the Covid unit of the Royal Oak unit of Beaumont Health, said the increase in cases has been marked and they are not sure where they are in this increase. Whatever happens, she said, she and her team will face the challenge – but the virus has proven to be resistant and difficult to fight.
“Each wave brought different challenges,” she said. “We feel very strong about having this disease under attack, but then we were thrown into a curved ball.”
The weight and tension of the ongoing pandemic is evident when talking to health professionals.
Lindsay Muenchen, registered nurse at the Covid unit at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, said she thought the worst was over. “The day I walked in and saw that our unit was full of Covid patients again, it was really difficult,” she said. “I had tears in my eyes.”
Dora Hoppes, also at Sparrow Hospital, has worked as a registered nurse for 22 years. She said last year was the most difficult.
His voice failed and his emotions increased with the first question in our brief interview. When asked why it is so difficult to talk about last year, she pointed to the hall. “I just saw it yesterday,” she said, fighting back tears. “I had a patient who passed away, so he is very young, every day.”
The stress of being constantly surrounded by so many illnesses and deaths is the most difficult part of a job that she loves, she said. “I would like to work now and just take care of a person who is here because he needs to remove the gallbladder.”
CNN’s Linh Tran and Frank Bivona contributed to this report.