Most of Michigan has been spared the COVID surge sweeping nation. The counties deemed to have high or significant rates also tend to lag in vaccinations.
This continuously updated post includes details of Michigan's COVID-19 vaccine distribution, who's getting it, along with new case rates including maps and daily state curve data.
As COVID rates increase, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it’s time again to wear masks in areas with high transmission rates. Any orders likely would come from employers, though, not government.
An advocacy group will soon begin collecting signatures to limit health emergencies to 28 days, then require lawmakers to sign off on orders. Health officials say that’s reckless.
More than 400 new cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the past couple days, raising some worry that the Delta variant may be finding its footing in Michigan. Positive test results are also up, but hospitalizations remain low.
At Michigan Medicine, hospitalizations of young people, nearly all female, more than doubled. Possible links to the pandemic were also noted at Beaumont Health in metro Detroit and at a children’s hospital in Grand Rapids.
Democrats, Republicans accuse the other of playing politics after President Joe Biden’s administration declines to investigate Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s rules.
With campsites at state and national parks hard to book in a pandemic, creative property owners with very particular passions are renting out space through sites like Hipcamp and Tentrr. One official called it the “wild, wild West.”
Just months ago, Michiganders clamored for vaccines, frustrated at waiting lists and line-cutters in a bid to secure precious shots. Now, health officials worry they will go to waste.
Unless masks are mandated by government authorities, it’s unlikely most Michigan school districts will require face masks in classrooms this fall, say school leaders.
The 648,000 Michigan residents who received federal pandemic relief benefits in error will not have to repay the funds if they applied in good faith. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said waivers will be awarded if payments were the state’s error.
Some Michigan school districts are opening full-time, online schools as an alternative to traditional classrooms, on the belief that not all families will want to return to school buildings this year.
Futures for Frontliners gave essential workers in the early months of the COVID pandemic a shot at free community college. Some are on campuses, but many more have yet to complete financial forms that would free them of tuition payments.
The state is pushing to get more residents to pursue a college degree. The pandemic appears to still be hobbling those efforts, particularly among poor and first-generation students.
In traditional Bangladeshi families, the lines between caretaker and those in their care are blurred as children often translate communications to parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Likewise, caretakers may be well into their 50s and are charged with looking after small children and aging parents alike.
