Talent & Education

Cases on college campuses continue to rise, but the good news is that K-12 schools continue to have few COVID-19 infections. Parents also can now get faster disclosure of coronavirus cases in their local schools.

The administration of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is moving quickly to reinstate a school coronavirus reporting mandate that was struck down Friday by the state’s high court.

How does Friday’s Supreme Court ruling upending Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s emergency power authority impact coronavirus mandates in Michigan schools? We answer some of your major questions.

How much you’ll learn about coronavirus cases in your student’s school depends on where you live. A Bridge Michigan analysis shows parents still can’t depend on schools or local health departments to voluntarily alert them to outbreaks.

Health officials say the school followed safety protocols, and the cases that suddenly proliferated in Carson City show how a coronavirus outbreak can happen anywhere. The district has ended in-person classes.

The number of K-12 schools with coronavirus outbreaks jumped from 28 to 46 schools in just a week. And there are now over 3,800 confirmed cases at colleges and universities across Michigan, numbers that are likely an undercount.

COVID-19 cases have quintupled in Houghton County in the western Upper Peninsula this month. The halt to in-person learning is scheduled to extend to Oct. 12.

College students better keep recharging their laptops. Classes are likely to remain online rather than in-person for the full 2020-21 academic year at the University of Michigan, Wayne State and Michigan State.

The number of coronavirus cases on the Michigan State University website since Aug. 24 jumped to 1,219 Thursday, two days after Ingham County health officer Linda Vail noted the website was significantly undercounting MSU-related cases. U-M boosts its reporting too.

The coronavirus child care crunch is falling hardest on low-income families of color, many of whom work in-person jobs in sanitation, grocery, and health care that the state has defined as “essential.” When these families have young students learning online, many parents find that they have no safe place to send their children during the work day.

Ingham County health officer Linda Vail said Michigan State has more than double the number of coronavirus cases listed on the school’s website. She said if case counts don’t drop, she would advise MSU to call off its opening game against Rutgers.

There is a surge in cases in K-12 schools and on college campuses, but, so far, there’s no sign of increased hospitalizations.

The University of Michigan counts COVID tests it administers on its website, but leaves out testing performed by county health officials. Disparate testing plans from school to school make it difficult to compare coronavirus spread across campuses.

Saying an upswing in COVID cases is “quickly becoming a crisis,” Ingham County health officer orders lockdown on 30 frats, sororities and other big homes. The mandatory order comes after the health department recommended voluntary quarantines for some 38K students.

For every student that tested positive, there were dozens of friends or classmates found to be in close contact with them, sidelining them from the classroom as well.

The public can now see what K-12 schools and colleges in the state have coronavirus outbreaks, thanks to new state reporting championed by Bridge Michigan and other media outlets. There are now more than 1,300 college cases.

Ingham County says 342 people linked to MSU tested positive for COVID. County health officials say off-campus parties contribute to the rise and warn that its recommendation will become an order if case increases continue.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer set aside $24 million in federal CARES Act funds to allow people required to work through the height of the coronavirus crisis to receive a free associate’s degree at a local community college.

Strict health protocols on campuses aren’t stopping the spread of coronavirus. With cases rising fast, some experts fear more a wave of deaths, but others say aggressive testing and quarantining could prevent the worst from happening.

Michigan will begin listing schools with outbreaks Monday, but disclosure is bogged down by testing delays and reporting lag times. Some fear the information will be so dated, it could be of little use to parents.