Carol Thompson, Lansing State Journal
LANSING Michigan public health officials unveiled a new tool to track and stop coronavirus spread as cases surged last fall: a smartphone app that could give early warnings to people who are exposed to the virus and teach them the basics of isolating and testing.
But the digital contact tracing tool encountered one of the same problems faced by living, breathing contact tracers.
People ignored it.
Contact tracers have reported difficulty reaching people to warn them about coronavirus exposure or, if they get through, finding uncooperative people on the other end of the line.
Likewise, Michigan is only about halfway to an early goal state health officials identified for downloads of MI COVID Alert, the contract tracing app.
Nearly a thousand health care workers in Ingham County are getting Pfizer s COVID-19 vaccine every week.
Health Officer Linda Vail says so far, the state has provided her department with 975 doses of vaccine a week. They’re getting an extra dose out of some vials.
She says the staff and the schedule would allow for more. “We did ask for the double, 1,950 doses this week, and didn’t get it, Vail adds, but we will be asking again, and I’ve also made a few phone calls.”
Vail says the department is vaccinating 350 or more people per day, and could double or triple that if they had enough vaccine.
CADILLAC â Missaukee County is still having one of its worst weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As of Thursday, there have been 28 positive test results out of 118 tests for residents of Missaukee County in the week ending Jan. 23.
Other weeks have seen more people become sick in Missaukee County, but because fewer tests are being run this week compared to December and November, the positivity rate for the week is at 23.7%, the highest rate of the weeks recorded so far.
The Cadillac News calculated the positivity rate using state-provided diagnostic testing data.
Missaukee County s positivity rate is much higher than the other counties in the Cadillac News coverage area.
CADILLAC â Missaukee County is still having one of its worst weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As of Thursday, there have been 28 positive test results out of 118 tests for residents of Missaukee County in the week ending Jan. 23.
Other weeks have seen more people become sick in Missaukee County, but because fewer tests are being run this week compared to December and November, the positivity rate for the week is at 23.7%, the highest rate of the weeks recorded so far.
The Cadillac News calculated the positivity rate using state-provided diagnostic testing data.
Missaukee County s positivity rate is much higher than the other counties in the Cadillac News coverage area.