The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) reported Wednesday that a total of 764,519 Michiganders have tested positive for COVID-19 and 16,619 have died from the virus — an additional 7,955 cases and 33 deaths since Tuesday.
COVID-19 vaccines
As Michigan leads the nation in the number of cases and the highest rates of hospitalizations for COVID-19, the head of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is recommending new health restrictions.
The U.S. Department of Education (USED) on Tuesday denied Michigan’s request to waive the federal requirement to administer the state’s standardized tests during the pandemic.
Despite Michigan’s COVID case rate, mortality rate and hospitalizations increasing in every region of the state, state health officials remain hesitant to say whether business closures or stricter restrictions are on the horizon.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has awarded Michigan more than $90 million to expand COVID-19 vaccine programs. Michigan has seen a surge of COVID-19 cases, even while vaccination efforts ramp up across the state.
As the United States seeks to end its coronavirus crisis and outrun variants, public health officials recognize it is essential for as many people as possible to get vaccinated. Making that easy is a major part of the plan, unfortunately, it hasn’t been for everyone.
As Michigan is in another deadly surge of COVID cases — with both positivity rates and hospitalization rates rising — the question of how much variants of the virus are driving the surge is still up in the air.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) reported Wednesday that a total of 672,259 Michiganders have tested positive for COVID-19 and 16,092 have died from the virus — an additional 6,311 cases and 10 deaths since Tuesday.
COVID-19 metrics have met the threshold to close some businesses, but the state is keeping them open
DHHS spokesperson Lynn Sutfin said the state “will continue to monitor the data to make decisions including three key metrics: case rates, percent positivity, and hospitalizations.” Sutfin said the DHHS’ goal “is to reengage while reducing public health risk, which is why we move slowly to maintain progress and momentum with thoughtful public health measures.”
According to a Wednesday COVID-19 data update from Sarah Lyon-Callo, director of the DHHS Bureau of Epidemiology and Population Health, Michigan has the ninth-highest number of cases and the 10-highest case rate in the U.S. in the last seven days.
Multiple companies and nonprofit groups are working to create “vaccine passports” — smartphone-based apps that would allow someone to certify that they’ve been vaccinated. The apps so far are aimed at travelers, who may be required to show proof of their vaccination status before boarding a plane or entering another country
State lawmakers have introduced bills in March on topics ranging from expanding unemployment benefits to protecting members of the LGBTQ community from discrimination to barring employers from requiring workers to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
A year after Michigan officials recorded the first two positive COVID-19 tests on March 10, 2020, two state lawmakers who had the virus — one Democrat, one Republican — have recovered. But their views over how to handle the pandemic that has killed almost 16,000 Michiganders underscore the Capitol’s deep partisan divide.
Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed two bills in the COVID-19 relief funding package Tuesday afternoon, but vetoed another — as promised — that would have stripped her administration of key executive powers.
In March 2020, the pandemic hit Michigan, bringing upheaval to schools. When Gov. Gretchen Whitmer closed schools buildings that month due to the climbing number of COVID-19 cases, districts across the state scrambled to craft a plan to meet students’ needs virtually. Over the last year, the pandemic has highlighted the inequities the struggling, underfunded Partnership schools face while they work to make ends meet during this current school year.
The Michigan Senate passed on Tuesday a new $2.3 billion supplemental funding bill for COVID-19 relief that also contains what Democrats referred to as a “political poison pill.”
In Michigan, the seven Democrats in the U.S. House voted for and all seven Republicans voted against President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion pandemic aid package early Saturday, in a rush to both boost COVID-19 vaccine funding and get legislation to the president’s desk before unemployment benefits expire in mid-March. The package, dubbed the American Rescue Plan, passed 219-212.
States struggling to provide enough COVID-19 vaccines are likely just a few days away from a pivotal development in the vaccination race: the availability of a shot that requires only one dose.