Health

A Michigan congressman wants to see the United States Air Force focus more on cleaning up PFAS contamination at a former Air Force base in northern Michigan.

Representative Dan Kildee (D-Flint) says there's been too much focus on studying the problem.

The number of people getting tested for COVID-19 in Michigan is on the rise. But in order to maintain quick turnaround times for results — a prerequisite for an effective public health response — some of the labs that process those tests are turning away new clients.

Last week, Michigan was completing more than 24,000 COVID-19 tests a day, based on a rolling 7-day average. At the start of July, average daily testing was less than 17,000.

The union representing teachers at Ann Arbor Public Schools says it's not safe to return to in-person instruction.

In a Facebook post, the Ann Arbor Education Association is demanding that school be online only in the fall.  

Union leaders say many things would have to be in place before teachers are willing to teach inside school buildings, including a 14 day period of time in which there are no new COVID-19 cases in Washtenaw County. 

Labs that process COVID-19 tests in Michigan are taking several days to get results back to nursing homes, according to the state health department.

More facilities are testing residents and staff in order to comply with a June directive from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. 

That order requires facilities with active COVID-19 cases to test staff and residents weekly until 14 days have passed since the last positive test. Facilities in medium to high-risk parts of the state — as of Friday, all of them — must test staff weekly, regardless of whether the virus has been detected. 

The number of new COVID-19 cases tied to an East Lansing bar is starting to wane.

Harper's Restaurant and Brewhub became infamous in June for drawing large crowds of young people, not wearing masks or social distancing. The bar is now closed. 

Corrections officers at Gus Harrison Correctional Facility in Adrian are mourning the death of one of their own from COVID-19.

Randy Rumler worked at the facility for 24 years. His local union rep, Mike Lennox, says Rumler was a family man, who was always there to help when people needed help.  

Lennox says everyone who worked with him is shocked and upset.

For the first time since the earliest days of the pandemic, Michigan reported no COVID-19 deaths on a single day on Sunday.

Since mid-March, not a day has gone by in Michigan without at least one death attributed to COVID-19. 

But the official state tally of coronavirus cases on Sunday contained no new deaths.

Since March, state health officials have confirmed 5,972 deaths linked to COVID-19.

In most Michigan communities, public pools are closed.  Libraries are closed. Public buildings are closed, due to efforts to keep the coronavirus from spreading.

That means fewer places for people to go to cool off when it gets really hot - and the next nine or ten days will be really hot - with high temperatures around 90 to 95 in much of lower southern Michigan.

Fears of spreading the coronavirus to vulnerable residents have even caused groups in Oakland County that normally open up cooling centers to say, "not this year." 

Thursday, Michigan reported its highest single daily COVID-19 case number since May.

State health officials reported 543 new confirmed coronavirus cases on Thursday. It’s a big jump in daily numbers over recent weeks. It’s the biggest single day increase since May 29.

There has been rising concerns about potential COVID-19 hot spots around the state.

Early treatment with hydroxychloroquine cut the death rate significantly in certain sick patients hospitalized with COVID-19 — and without heart-related side-effects, according to a new study published by Henry Ford Health System. 

Researchers at Beaumont Health have developed a new test that can detect COVID-19 in urine, saliva, and blood. Test results take 30-45 minutes, and don’t require expensive lab equipment to be processed.

Laura Lamb is one of the researchers who worked on developing the test. She says the accuracy of the test was one of the most important considerations. Lamb says the test is very accurate.

Community organizations can now request free naloxone through a web portal launched by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

Naloxone, also known by the brand name Narcan, is a medication used to prevent opioid overdoses in an emergency. 

Seven large Michigan health systems hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak have received more than $850 million in federal funds, according to federal data. The funds are meant to patch budget holes suffered by providers in “high-impact” areas. 

But hospitals — some of which have laid off thousands of workers in recent months — maintain the money falls far short of what’s needed to make up for losses. Some, in fact, continued this week to cut staff.

A second wave of job cuts and layoffs have hit a Michigan health care system as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to ravage the economy.

Layoffs and schedule reductions for 1,000 full-time workers or their equivalents will begin this week and continue through the end of July at Trinity Health Michigan, which includes the St. Joseph Mercy Health System and Mercy Health, according to a memo sent to staff Monday by President and CEO Mike Slubowski. 

It's no time to get complacent.

That's the message public health leaders want Michiganders to understand as businesses open up, restrictions are lifted and coronavirus case numbers begin to inch upward.

The financial strain caused by COVID-19 is forcing a Muskegon nursing home to close its doors. In a press release issued Thursday, management said Sanctuary at the Park was less than half-full due to a reduction in hospital transfers. 

“Sanctuary at the Park was built and staffed for 99 residents, but currently is only caring for a very small number of individuals,” said administrator Julie Winkle, in the release. “This decline in residents and reduced hospital referrals due to COVID-19 make it unsustainable to continue operations.”

The Michigan Senate passed a bill on Wednesday that would require the state health department to identify facilities for the exclusive care of nursing home residents with COVID-19. The legislation next goes to the House Committee on Health Policy. 

Senator Peter Lucido (R-Shelby Charter Township), who sponsored the bill, defended it during the Senate session. 

“This bill is for the benefit of those who cannot be admitted into a hospital,” he said. “These are the ones that don’t meet the threshold for a hospital. Those individuals, this bill is aimed to protect.”

The Ingham County jail is dealing with an outbreak of COVID-19.

Eight inmates at the Ingham County jail have tested positive for COVID-19. The inmates were tested after a civilian kitchen employee left work early last Friday and later tested positive for the virus. All the infected inmates worked in the jail's kitchen.

It was meant to be a financial booster shot, a way to help hospitals and health care systems survive the economic onslaught that COVID-19 brought. 

But a new report analyzing how federal coronavirus relief money was distributed shows stark disparities in which states got the biggest portions of $175 billion in aid from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

The state Senate is expected to vote on Wednesday on a bill that some say would further protect residents in skilled nursing facilities from COVID-19. 

Introduced by Senator Peter Lucido (R-Shelby Charter Township), the bill would require that the state establish facilities for the exclusive care of nursing home residents recovering from COVID-19. It charges the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services with deciding how the state would go about finding or building these facilities.