Dec 22, 2020
We urge our readers, friends and relatives in Superiorland and elsewhere who are thinking of traveling this Christmas to bear one thing in mind: We are not out of the COVID-19 woods yet, not by a long shot.
Yes, the vaccine is slowly being distributed and cases and deaths seem to be dropping, but in many ways, the coronavirus is more dangerous now than ever in many states.
Public health officials at agencies such as the Marquette County Health Department and beyond cautioned us all about large family gatherings for Thanksgiving. The surge of COVID-19 cases since then is evidence many people paid no heed to the warnings. Thankfully, that spike in cases wasn’t here in Superiorland or the state of Michigan.
lbowers@miningjournal.net
ISHPEMING The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services found multiple deficiencies in an Ishpeming nursing home’s attempt to control the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
The MDHHS Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services conducted a survey of Mission Point Nursing and Rehabilitation Center “for the purpose of COVID-19-focused infection control” from Nov. 12 through Nov. 25.
Mission Point has reported that 49 residents have tested positive since Nov. 2, one resident remains hospitalized and nine have died, based on a Dec. 18 statement to The Mining Journal.
According to an MDHHS report based on observations, interviews and record review, the Ishpeming facility “failed to maintain infection control program practices to prevent continued spread of COVID-19 within the facility.”
Next up, according to state plans: staff and the mostly elderly residents of long-term facilities that account for more than a third of the state’s overall coronavirus death total, which has surpassed 11,000.
But with initial doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine still scarce, county health departments and local hospitals are faced with difficult choices on how to prioritize vaccines after these top-level groups.
“These are incredibly difficult decisions,” Jeffrey Byrnes, a Grand Valley State University philosophy professor and medical ethicist, told Bridge Michigan.
“This is a real high wire act. This is the kind of thing that 10, 20 years ago would have been drafted as a hypothetical and perhaps overly dramatic textbook problem. Now we are facing this in real time.”
As early doses of COVID-19 vaccines arrive in Michigan, there’s no dispute over who’s first in line: front-line hospital workers and medical first responders who have battled the virus for months.
Next up, according to state plans: staff and the mostly elderly residents of long-term facilities that account for more than a third of the state’s overall coronavirus death total, which has surpassed 11,000.
This story was co-published with Bridge Magazine.
But with initial doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine still scarce, county health departments and local hospitals are faced with difficult choices on how to prioritize vaccines after these top-level groups.
MARQUETTE, MI The COVID-19 vaccination process in the Upper Peninsula is expected to take place next week.
The Marquette County Health Department says initial doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines will be given to the highest priority groups: healthcare personnel, EMS personnel and skilled nursing facility staff and residents.
Pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens have been contracted to vaccinate long-term care facility residents and staff. Indian Health Services will get allotments to vaccinate tribal members, as will prisons and federally qualified health clinics.
The U.P. should receive additional vaccine on a weekly basis. Vaccine availability will be limited to the highest-risk individuals in the first several months. Officials expect the vaccine to be available to the general public in the spring of 2021.