As cases surge to levels unseen in months, the virus is spreading fast in corners of Michigan that had been mostly spared. Experts blame ‘pandemic fatigue’ but the good news is deaths remain relatively low.
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
‘Open up everything!’ Michigan GOP’s push for herd immunity on COVID
A Michigan infectious disease doctor says we’ve overdone coronavirus lockdown rules, an argument embraced by Republican Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey. The medical establishment calls such views dangerous.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Health experts to Shirkey: COVID herd immunity would kill 30K in Michigan
Five public health leaders have sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey rebuking his comments about “herd immunity” and asking for a hearing focused on the science of the virus.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
50 men held an Upper Peninsula retreat traced to COVID. No one’s talking.
Officials said the organizer hung up on a nurse trying to warn others of possible exposure. Another person accused health officials of ‘working for Satan.’ Meanwhile, infections proliferate in the eastern U.P.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Whitmer order sets up COVID-positive nursing units in Michigan
The latest executive order also loosens community dining restrictions in facilities and expands reporting requirements of coronavirus cases to include legal guardians and prospective residents or staff.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Health officials: Party on (safely) during rare Blue Moon Halloween
From homemade candy chutes to slipping treats across a clean table, health officials urge creativity in keeping trick-or-treat safe.
Posted inTalent & Education
Michigan schools still struggle with public disclosure of COVID cases
How much you’ll learn about coronavirus cases in your student’s school depends on where you live. A Bridge Michigan analysis shows parents still can’t depend on schools or local health departments to voluntarily alert them to outbreaks.
Posted inTalent & Education
Michigan Tech, Houghton County move to online learning amid COVID
COVID-19 cases have quintupled in Houghton County in the western Upper Peninsula this month. The halt to in-person learning is scheduled to extend to Oct. 12.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
1 in 3 U.S. parents will skip kids’ flu shots, but Michigan has early gains
Despite pleas from health experts to guard against flu before a COVID resurgence, some parents aren’t comfortable taking children to the doctor. But so far in Michigan, there’s a 30 percent rise in flu shots.
Posted inMichigan Government
Whitmer orders Michigan schools to tell the public about COVID cases
Pressure mounted for more than a month on the administration to require more immediate public notifications of coronavirus outbreaks at Michigan schools as students returned for the fall term.