For more than 10 months, the families of nursing home residents have coalesced around a two-word phrase: “Isolation kills.” The death counts in 2020 suggest they may be right.
Robin Erb
Robin Erb covers a range of health issues in Michigan, including the industry of aging and the issues facing older residents in Michigan, a state that is aging faster than most others. She joined Bridge in 2019 and has led investigations that tracked millions of dollars in opioid settlement money and explored severe worker shortages in health care that threaten lives and the state's economy. She chronicled the shock and grief of Michigan families in COVID’s wake, as well as state policy decisions and the triumphs of medical breakthroughs. Robin previously spent six years covering health at the Detroit Free Press, documenting the battle over, and the eventual passage of, the Affordable Care Act and Michigan's Medicaid expansion. She studied communications and political science at Miami University and has a master’s degree in organizational leadership from Lourdes University (Toledo, Ohio). She and her husband raised two wonderful children — but have failed miserably at training their Beagle-Bassets — in southeast Michigan. Reach her at rerb@bridgemi.com.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Michigan expert depressed by COVID vaccine myths, government rollout
Dr. Arnold Monto, the U-M expert who led the vetting of U.S. COVID vaccines, weighs in on whether the vaccines will stand up to new variants. But he is exasperated by fears that the COVID vaccines cause infertility.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
COVID variant spreads in Michigan. Gretchen Whitmer mum on ex-health chief.
New COVID variants make it more important to observe safety protocols. Meanwhile, Michigan is improving on distribution of vaccines, as more arrive over the weekend. But the governor still won’t explain the abrupt departure of MDHHS director Robert Gordon last week.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Michigan: 90 percent need COVID vaccine for herd immunity. That’s unlikely.
A new, faster-moving variant worries health officials and means more people need to become immune to stop it. But the state’s history on vaccines plus a shortage of doses doesn’t bode well for meeting that goal anytime soon.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Michigan makes gains on COVID vaccines at nursing homes; other seniors wait
Michigan has shown progress in getting nursing home residents and staff vaccinated. But overall, nearly 8 percent of people over 70 have received a COVID vaccine in Michigan.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Not if, but when: Michigan on lookout for faster-moving COVID variant
Identifying new variants of COVID is a high-tech, genetic search for a “needle in a haystack,” with just two labs doing the work in a state with thousands of new coronavirus samples each day. But while Michigan studies only a small sliver of testing specimens, it’s doing better than other states.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Older adults in Michigan frustrated in efforts to get COVID vaccine
A week after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced people 65 and older would be eligible for a vaccine, health department websites and other government offices are being flooded by residents trying to get registered.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Henry Ford study on hydroxychloroquine for COVID quietly shut down
Henry Ford Health System and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan touted the study in April as a possible game-changer in protecting first responders from the deadly virus. But low participation and criticism of the health system’s research doomed the effort, which was ended before Christmas.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
My year covering the health beat during Michigan’s COVID crisis
Chronicling a pandemic is a reminder of our shared resilience and what we can achieve in laboratories, at bedsides, in classrooms and at kitchen tables. While 2020 was awful, let’s remember what we’ve gained amid the loss.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Millions eligible for Michigan COVID vaccine, but plans vary by location
Unclear data and messaging, a lurching supply chain and a growing chorus of finger-pointing dogs the state’s early vaccine plan as people over 65 seek protection against COVID-19.