Schools tried a bit of everything to keep students safe last year. Some of those efforts are being pared back now as schools and health officials learn more about what appears to help reduce COVID, and what doesn’t.
Supply shortages and fewer workers are stretching some of the largest companies in the state. But overall, most have returned — or burned past — 2019 sales totals for the second three months of the year.
“People are at their wits’ end” when they learn how the pandemic has impacted what refrigerators, washers or other products are available, and how soon the store can get them. Customer flexibility can speed the process.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer does not appear to be planning another state-level eviction moratorium after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal version. Housing advocates fear “horrific consequences” for Michigan renters.
Michigan’s largest insurers had waived patient cost-sharing for COVID testing and treatment as COVID tore through the state beginning last year. Now, with readily available vaccines, that financial help is about to stop.
As the delta variant continues to drive infection rates up, the vaccinated are seeing cases rise too. But health officials say the vast majority of those being hospitalized with serious illness have not been vaccinated.
Liza Estlund Olson, the acting director of the Unemployment Insurance Agency, has agreed to testify in front of the House Oversight Committee next month.
Parents against mask mandates in schools have grabbed most of the attention in school board meetings and protests. Now, parents who favor mask mandates to protect against COVID’s spread are organizing.
Federal unemployment benefits are expiring Sept. 4 in the state, ending payments worth about a combined $283 million to workers not eligible for Michigan’s regular unemployment program.
Data released by the state and published here as a searchable database provides information on current mask policies for many of Michigan’s 537 public school districts.
Even without a statewide school mask mandate, many Michigan students will be required to wear face coverings when they return to classrooms in the coming days.
Long-term care facilities had relaxed visitation as the summer opened and COVID cases fell. Some families say the rules are tightening again; a few said they never changed in the first place.
Some campuses went for mandates. But others tried prizes to increase the number of vaccinated students and parents on campus as the fall semester begins.
Monday’s FDA full approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is renewing hope that some portion of the vaccine reluctant will get their shot as COVID-19 cases rise. Many businesses are now expected to mandate vaccines.
With no state mandate, local Michigan superintendents are being forced to make tough decisions on whether to require face masks to protect against COVID this fall. The debate is dividing communities like Eaton Rapids.
The Biden administration wants to withhold funds for homes that don’t require staff vaccines. But Michigan has one of the nation’s lowest staff vaccination rates, and some fear a mandate will lead more workers to quit, making staff shortages worse.
In the absence of state regulations, Michigan’s patchwork response to the COVID-19 pandemic continued Wednesday, ranging from local school mask rules to a Republican-led commission banning vaccine mandates — and informing every U.S. county about its action.
One hospital system says 15 to 20 percent of those hospitalized with COVID have already been vaccinated. The increase helped propel the call for booster shots.