The pandemic turbocharged a problem years in the making: Michigan is aging faster than the nation as a whole and newcomers aren’t replacing old-timers. That’s not a recipe for a winning economy.
Administrators around the state have been asking the Legislature for more flexibility but so far their efforts have gained less traction than a school bus on an icy hill.
For years, community colleges have sought legislative approval for four-year nursing programs to help staff hospitals short on workers. But the state’s four-year universities fiercely oppose the move, leading to the latest turf battle in Lansing.
Omicron may be a turning point. Unlike previous waves, data indicates Michiganders this time are still going out to eat, attending concerts and carrying on almost as normal.
The first-term Democrat is set to deliver her 2022 State of the State address on Wednesday. From mental health and sagging test scores to COVID and the economy, she has a lot on her plate.
Studies have since dashed the initial promise of the anti-parasitic drug to treat COVID-19, but a U-M-led study finds ivermectin is still being prescribed, and is still being covered, in part, with taxpayers dollars.
Michigan’s auditor general says it’s ‘unfair’ to say his report found Whitmer’s administration gave inaccurate tallies of deaths from COVID. Republicans demand an investigation.
The state’s school outbreak report data is even less reliable than in the past, as omicron overwhelms the reporting system and schools end contact tracing.
One health official called it a “COVID test supply crisis,” with the state “triaging” test kits and some schools saying they may run out of needed tests next week if new supplies don’t arrive soon.
Two years after a global scramble to manufacture masks, options abound — some legit and some not. We know that N95-type masks are best and cloth masks are worst. Here’s how to choose.
The more school officials tested, the more COVID cases they found among mostly asymptomatic students at Norwood Elementary in the western Upper Peninsula, underscoring the challenges schools face keeping kids in class amid omicron.
Inside the effort to change people’s minds in Cass County, which has the lowest vaccination rate in Michigan. ‘People just don’t want to deal with COVID.’
Remember the monotony of 9-to-5 worklife? Doesn’t seem so bad compared to the daily disruption of omicron, with changing school schedules, child quarantines and cross-city trips for test kits.
The report from the Michigan Auditor General places the death toll in long-term care higher than the state’s official count, but notes that some of those may be at facilities not required to report.
The state will stop trying to contact everybody infected or exposed to COVID — something it has not been able to effectively do for some time. It will now focus on schools, nursing homes, prisons and other congregate settings.