As the total number of COVID-19 cases in the United States approaches 26 million with over 434,000 deaths, the impact this continues to have on our residency programs is significant. Our residents and faculty remain on the frontlines fighting this pandemic in spite of the challenges and fears we all face.  As a program have all learned a lot and have come a long way with mitigation and personal protection during this past year, and have adjusted and adapted to our new normal.  First and foremost however is our determination and absolute commitment to caring for our patients, both in our clinics and in the hospital.  Our Urban-Track residents continue to care for their continuity patients at the Community Health and Social Services Center (CHASS) in Detroit, and at Henry Ford Hospital-Detroit which has been extremely hard hit with a total of 281 active COVID-19 cases during January 2021. 

Our Rochester residents have remained steadfast in their determination to provide high quality in-person care to their patients in our clinic and on the inpatient service without hesitation.  In the wake of this pandemic however, we have had one faculty member test positive for COVID, one resident, and one medical assistant, all of whom have fully recovered and have now been vaccinated.  Our residency rotation curriculum has not been immune to the effects of COVID during this past year.  One of our main outpatient pediatrics rotations has converted to virtual visits only after the pediatrician tested positive for COVID several months ago.  At this time, she has not reopened her clinic to live patients which nullifies it as a viable educational site for our residents. We have however adapted and have found other pediatric sites to fulfill this educational requirement for our residents.  Similarly, 2 of our Ascension obstetrics rotation sites (Ascension St. John-Detroit and Ascension-Macomb) have restricted our residents from participation due to concerns of outside rotators increasing the risk of COVID transmission in laboring patients. With the help of our Ascension Chief Medical Officer (Dr. Sheryl Wissman) we have significantly enhanced the quality, depth, and scope of our obstetrics rotation on our Ascension Rochester campus. Our Family Medicine residents are now working one on one with senior OB residents from the Ascension Genesys Obstetrics Residency Program on our Rochester campus.