CADILLAC â Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced that 55% of eligible Michiganders have received COVID-19 vaccination.
That means the state has met the âVacc to normalâ benchmark to re-open in-person work across all industries.
The stateâs vaccine tracker dashboard doesnât show Michigan at the 55% threshold. Thatâs because the state is using CDC data for the âvacc to normalâ benchmarks that provide for the slow lifting of epidemic orders as more of the population is protected against COVID-19. The stateâs own vaccine dashboard uses data from the Michigan Care Improvement Registry (MICR); but MICRâs data is incomplete because some vaccine providers donât report to MICR, such as Veterans Affairs hospitals or out-of-state providers.
CADILLAC â Name a date and time.
District Health Department No. 10 on Friday announced the launch of a survey that asks people in the district where and when the clinic should host a COVID-19 vaccine clinic.
The survey will help the department learn how they can reach people who haven t been vaccinated yet.
Vaccine clinic can be taken on the road. We now have a Mobile Clinic that staff can take out into the community to offer the COVID-19 vaccine,‘ stated Kevin Hughes, Health Officer for DHD No. 10. “If your community is hosting an event or festival and you would like DHD No. 10 to come and offer the vaccine, please let us know in this survey or email us at covid@dhd10.org.‘
CADILLAC â Local counties added deaths and hit milestone case numbers Thursday, with positivity rates ticking slightly upward over the past few days, though the numbers are still lower than they were a few weeks ago as the spring COVID-19 surge seemed to peak.
Here are where the local numbers stood on Thursday evening.
Wexford County
Wexford County added 14 new cases Thursday for a pandemic total of 2,452 cases; according to state data deaths increased by two and reached 39. The 7-day-average positivity rate was up slightly to 13.9%.
Vaccine completion rates in the following age brackets were: 12.1% for teens 18 to 19, which was no change from Wednesday; 15.8% for people in their 20s; 24.2% for people in their 30s; 32.2% for people in their 40s; 45.5% for people 50 to 64; 68.3% for people 65 to 74 and 70.7% for people 75+. The overall completion rate was 40.3%, up 0.4 two days in a row; the numbers were most recently updated on May 5, the stateâs dashboard indicated.
CADILLAC â Socializing gets a little easier today.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services this week announced the softening of some epidemic orders, which take effect May 6.
If you re fully vaccinated and symptom-free, you can go maskless at indoor residential gatherings; athletes can cease routine COVID-19 testing, and outdoor residential gatherings now face a cap of 50 people. Additionally, large public events can be a little larger; stadiums, festivals and the like can inch a little higher in their capacity limits.
The news comes as positivity rates mostly have been falling or holding steady in the region.
Here are the most recent numbers.
Health departments in Michigan have begun turning down vaccine allocations from the state because they’re unable to find enough people willing to get the shots.
Normally, Dr. Jennifer Morse’s three local health districts get weekly vaccine shipments from the state Department of Health and Human Services.
But Morse, the medical director for District Health Department No. 10, the Central Michigan District Health Department and the Mid-Michigan District Health Department, which collectively cover a swath of 19 counties in the middle of the state, said Tuesday they’ve had to forego their allotments recently.
“We just don’t have the demand like we used to,” Morse said.