The Detroit News. Nov. 12, 2020
Work together to combat COVID-19 surge
COVID-19 is surging again, a disappointing development but one to be expected as cooling temperatures move people into closer indoor quarters and communal events - Halloween, the election - invite larger gatherings.
Hospitals across the state say they are filling up with virus patients, and suspending elective procedures as they did in the spring.
And while death rates remain well below what was posted in the early months of the pandemic, they also are climbing.
Policymakers must act now to protect the health of state residents and avoid another shock to the economy.
With Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up, conditions in Michigan could get very bad in a hurry.
No one wants to see another shutdown of the state. Businesses still trying to recover from the spring and summer mandated closures would be devastated if they had to close their doors again.
That’s particularly true of stores, bars and restaurants who rely so heavily on the holiday season.
Lawmakers were given their authority back by a Supreme Court ruling that declared in essence that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer must get their approval before issuing executive orders under a state of emergency.
She responded by issuing the orders through the state health department. But those are bound to face legal challenges should they become more severe.
The better approach would be for the governor and legislative leaders to be meeting now to discuss what steps are necessary.
It’s time for the Legislature, led by Republicans who sued to ensure its proper role in governing during the crisis, to step up. Instead, it has disappeared.
Legislative leaders canceled a scheduled House session Thursday, and plans to meet next on Dec. 1, because it had no “time sensitive issues” to discuss.
We’ve got one: The statewide mask mandate proposed by Whitmer on Nov. 5. Or even a mandate to wear masks in the House and Senate chambers, which Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist requested for Oct. 7.
Some in the Legislature have objected to mask mandates. But that seems the least intrusive and perhaps most effective tool against COVID-19. Three-quarters of Michigan residents say they wear masks in public anyway, and most businesses require them. It is hardly an imposition.
Another time-sensitive issue: Look back to the spring and examine the measures that were put in place to determine what worked and what didn’t. This is something the governor and lawmakers ought to be able to do together.
Some school districts, including Detroit’s, are already returning to virtual schooling. Is that a reasonable precaution to take during the holiday season? And if so, what resources will the state need to provide the local districts to assure learning doesn’t lag?
Protecting the most vulnerable is also a priority. Michigan didn’t do a great job of that at the beginning. Are we confident the nursing home population is now adequately protected?
Much depends on Whitmer and legislative leaders setting aside their differences and putting in place common-sense precautions.
If they can’t, lawmakers can pass their own COVID-19 measures and send them to the governor.
Individuals also must understand that the pandemic is not behind us. Stay vigilant about masks, social distancing and handwashing.
Family gatherings are prime spreaders of the virus. Don’t let your guard down. Isolate yourself if you have COVID symptoms.
Hopefully, we are in the last stages of this plague. A vaccine should be widely available by early next year.
It’s time for our legislative leaders, along with the governor, to start exercising the role they rightly fought for, and to help our most vulnerable populations get safely to the other side.
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The Mining Journal (Marquette). Nov. 13, 2020.
App is valuable tool as virus cases rise in state, region
With COVID-19 cases rising rapidly in the Upper Peninsula and Michigan as a whole, it is critical to have tools that help individuals and health officials track the spread of the virus.
These tools can take many forms, but earlier this week, the state of Michigan announced the statewide rollout of its COVID-19 exposure notification app, MI COVID Alert.
The app, which is free, voluntary and anonymous, can notify users if they’ve been in close contact with someone who has COVID-19, state officials said in an announcement. It also allows users to confidentially submit a positive test result into the app, which will notify close contacts of that person without revealing their identity.
While officials emphasize that the app is no replacement for mask-wearing, handwashing, social distancing or contact tracing, it’s a key tool for fighting the spread, as knowledge is power when it comes to potential COVID-19 exposures.
This is evidenced by research by Oxford University, which “found a potential to reduce infections and deaths, even if just 15% of a population uses an exposure notification app like MI COVID Alert,” officials said in the announcement.
Although some may have privacy concerns - which are often well-founded in the digital age - about the app, MI COVID Alert uses “randomly generated phone codes and low-energy Bluetooth technology instead of GPS location to protect privacy while looking back in time to determine close contact with other phones that have the app,” officials said in the release.
We encourage readers to do their part and download the app if possible, as we believe confidentially sharing this type of information is a service to anyone you may come into close contact with, as well as the region, state and nation as a whole.
And reducing infection rates is absolutely critical right now, as Michigan’s overall COVID-19 positivity rate and the seven-day average of new daily cases have roughly doubled over the past two weeks, the Associated Press reported earlier this week.
Here in the Upper Peninsula, we’ve seen the total number of cases increase from roughly 1,500 in mid-September to just over 6,700 on Oct. 30, to over 8,000 as of Thursday. (I kept this as an overview so we wouldn’t have to change too much, the “over 8,000” is from today, it will likely still hold true for Thursday unless something really dramatic happens, but we could update the “over 8,000” to be more specific when the latest results come out around 3 p.m. Thursday.)
Consider this: It took around six months for the U.P. as a whole to record 1,500 cumulative cases, but it has only taken the past two weeks to add roughly 1,300 cases.
This is how quickly the virus can take hold of a region.
With these numbers in mind, we hope Yoopers and residents around the state will assist in the fight against COVID-19 by downloading the app and confidentially sharing any positive test results.
This is another tool we can use to keep our communities safe and hopefully mitigate the rapidly accelerating spread of the virus in the U.P.
For those who wish to download it, the app is available for free in the Apple and Google app stores.
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Traverse City Record-Eagle. Nov. 15, 2020
Nonprofits and the people they serve need us more than ever
It’s pretty easy to take for granted the generosity that abounds in our northern Michigan communities.
Not a day passes when we don’t hear about someone or some organization doing right by its neighbors in the Grand Traverse region. That generosity transcends nearly everything that works to divide us, even politics.
Maybe that’s why we arrive at the doorstep of the season of giving this year with a little trepidation.
The past eight months haven’t been kind to many of us. It has been especially cruel to our most vulnerable neighbors.
That added adversity - both for nonprofit service organizations and the people they help - threatens to leave some in our community behind this season. Fewer trips to the grocery store between now and the new year, fewer strolls along downtown streets, fewer hats passed all will take their toll on the organizations upon which so many depend.
They’re the organizations that swoop in with help to tide folks over through a tough winter - bags of groceries, a few toys for Christmas or a stack of firewood. They’re the organizations to which we often give generously in good times and rely upon in bad.
Well, times are tough for many in northern Michigan, and those organizations, if they aren’t already, will see a surge in demand during the next few months. To complicate things further, many of the region’s most important nonprofit aid organizations now will struggle against a disrupted path to donors.
Fewer trips to the grocery store as COVID-19 rages and we hunker, means fewer handfuls of change tossed into the bucket, fewer canned food items dropped into the bin, and fewer toys placed into boxes.
And the surge in COVID-19 cases, corresponding concerns about exposures and school closures couldn’t come at a worse time. Many children depend upon schools for consistent meals, and connection to services. Likewise, nonprofits bank on connections with donors made through seasonal in-person events and interactions.
Those new challenges all land at a time when barriers between nonprofits and donors seem to be rising, on the doorstep of a season when many charitable organizations receive more than 30 percent of their annual donations.
We know, if asked, our community will come through for our neighbors in need. We have watched that generosity manifest itself in every corner of our region time and again.
We also know that generosity will find its way to shine once again this year. Maybe those pockets of change will be replaced by a single check, those canned goods swapped for a gift card.
No matter how it happens we know our community will come though. It always does.
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