Lakeland Hospital running at capacity of patients

BERRIEN COUNTY, Mich. – Spectrum Health Lakeland Hospital is one of many hospitals that are running at capacity in the mitten state. Officials say they have as many as 65 COVID-19 patients and that the ICU is full.

More beds will be made available if there is a post-Thanksgiving surge in cases, which officials say they are getting ready for.

The first week of December has a downward trend in cases for the county compared to November.

"That could be really encouraging but we need more time to tell if that's a real trend. We know there were a lot of testing centers closed Thursday thru Sunday of this past week and that could be the reason we're seeing a bit of a slowdown in cases and in fact it will pick up,” said Nikki Britten, Berrien County Health Department.

Britten also has said that the surge in cases would start to show up during the second week of December.