Michigan Doctor on case spike: 'Michigan has the highest percent of variants'

The CDC is planning to review the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine today. ER Doctor in West Michigan & Committee to Protect Medicare Executive Director Dr. Rob Davidson joins Yahoo Finance Live to discuss.

Video transcript

ZACK GUZMAN: Welcome back to Yahoo Finance Live. As the CDC continues to halt vaccinations-- or vaccinations, I should say, using J&J's vaccine due to extremely rare cases of blood clotting issues in a handful of patients, Moderna is out with some positive news of its own to counter what's been a stressful week on the vaccine front. The company is saying its COVID vaccines remain more than 90% effective at protecting patients six months after receiving their second dose, according to new phase three clinical data. The numbers even more impressive when it comes to protecting against serious cases, 95% effective in those cases within the same timeframe.

That's obviously welcome news, especially as the US grapples with the nation's worst renewed surge right now in Michigan. The Great Lakes states averaging seven times as many daily cases as it was in late February. And hospitalizations have nearly doubled in the past two weeks as well.

And for more on that, I want to bring in Dr. Rob Davidson, ER doctor in west Michigan and Committee to Protect Medicare executive director as well. And Dr. Davidson, if there was one silver lining we were talking about in this wave of cases in Michigan, it's that you're seeing younger patients from what we're hearing, which would seem to kind of support the idea of vaccines working and protecting older populations. But what are you seeing on the front lines there?

ROB DAVIDSON: Yeah, we're absolutely seeing younger patients. I mean, we're not talking teenagers, but people in their 40s, people in their 50s. Many of them have pre-existing conditions that put them at higher risk. And frankly, the hospitalizations in our system are about four times what they were a couple of weeks ago. But across the state, they're double, like you said. And so there's still a lot of really sick people coming in. Their oxygens are low. They're dehydrated.

But fortunately, fewer of them are ending up in the ICU on ventilators. And as we see cases and hospitalizations really spike, the curve that we're seeing for the number of deaths, while it's going up, it's not as steep. And so we're really hopeful that the vaccination effort we've had thus far can protect against so many more people dying from this. But we're hoping just to get this under control to stop having so many people coming in so sick.

AKIKO FUJITA: Doctor, what's contributed to the most recent surge? Is it about people easing up and sort of getting in on their activities too soon? Is the bigger concern about the variants and how infectious they are?

ROB DAVIDSON: Yeah, I think the answer is yes to all of the above. And in some ways, we don't exactly know. But Michigan has the highest of percent of variants of the B117 that originated in UK. We know that or we think that the vaccines are maybe a little less effective that overall infections against the variants, although they have shown to be effective against severe infection or hospitalization or death. We also know that the variant is more transmissible than the original.

But yeah, people-- I mean, there is a pandemic fatigue. But in Michigan, you remember back to the armed protesters going into the Capitol without masks on, the plot to kidnap and murder our governor over lockdowns. This has been a tough state. Governor Whitmer has not had very good partners in the Republican legislature. They sued her, over $600,000 to sue her to take away her powers to control the virus. And so, the fatigue is there, and people are just getting fed up. But about half of our state has kind of been set up from the beginning. So it's been tough.

ZACK GUZMAN: Yeah, doctor, if there's a difference this time around, too, it's that we have a different president and new administration in there as well. And it was interesting to hear the head of the CDC talking about why giving Michigan more vaccines right now wouldn't necessarily be the answer, but curious to get your take as a doctor watching this all unfold, as we know vaccines do work and we've seen that play out, if that could be potentially an answer to help this right now, given kind of the delays that it would take in getting the vaccines out. What's your take on that?

ROB DAVIDSON: Yeah, I mean, selfishly, as a father and a doctor here in Michigan, I want more vaccines in Michigan. And I think selfishly, our governor wants more vaccines. Because, yes, there is a delay. You know, you have to get those in arms. But we know within even a week of one shot, it does decrease your risk of catching the virus. But I do understand the federal government has 50 states to manage. They have to get vaccines out to all of the places and want to prevent a major outbreak or a major surge like we're seeing here in other places as well.

So, you know, I think it's easy to sit back and criticize both sides for, you know, for maybe not doing as much as possibly could be done. But there's limited resources, limited number of vaccine doses. So if Michiganders continue to mask up, continue to keep their distance, I agree with the governor to avoid indoor dining, avoid activities that put you in contact with a lot of people, and just get those shots. You know, I'm taking my 17-year-old to get his shot today. I think that is how we get out of this.

AKIKO FUJITA: Yeah, it does feel like we are so close to--

ROB DAVIDSON: We are.

AKIKO FUJITA: --the end. Certainly don't want to let down our guard now. Dr. Rob Davidson, ER doctor in west Michigan, as well as the executive director of the Committee to Protect Medicare. It's good to talk to you today.