Michigan health officials finally announced the death toll for nursing homes and the results were sobering. Dozens of nursing homes had 20 deaths or more.
Ted Roelofs
Ted Roelofs of Kentwood, has written extensively on healthcare as well as prison and juvenile justice reform. Roelofs spent nearly three decades at the Grand Rapids Press where he covered politics, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, rural poverty and mental illness among the homeless. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin. Reach Ted at ted.roelofs@gmail.com
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
From couch potato to bike trails: a coronavirus silver lining in Michigan
Stir-crazy from quarantine, Michiganders are snapping up bicycles as fast as stores can stock them. Hunting and fishing license purchases are also up dramatically as residents find comfort and urgency in exploring more of the outdoors.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Michigan gives no coronavirus data on thousands of seniors and disabled
State health officials say they will finally reveal COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes. But this leaves out tens of thousands of vulnerable residents at homes for the aged, adult foster care and unlicensed assisted-living facilities.
Posted inUrban Affairs
What police have learned, or not, about how to defuse mass protests
Heated demonstrations against police violence, and police reaction to them, have created tense moments and fatal encounters between police and protesters. Here are some proven tactics for police to turn down the temperature.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
What is my future? How Michigan teens and young adults deal with isolation
Experts expect a wave of mental health issues for adolescents and young adults following months of quarantine during the coronavirus crisis.
Posted inUrban Affairs
White cops in black communities underscore tension in Michigan protests
Police departments in several Michigan cities have a lower share of African-American officers than the communities they serve, leading to some scars that have yet to heal.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Michigan continues to stumble in tracking coronavirus in nursing homes
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services acknowledges its count of nursing home COVID-19 cases is likely inaccurate. And the agency still cannot accurately list how many senior residents have died from virus complications.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Michigan nursing homes linked to 1 in 4 coronavirus deaths. Tally will grow.
As questions swirl about transparency of Michigan nursing home data, a Democratic lawmaker slams Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s policies that required homes to accept COVID-19 patients as an ‘epic fail.’
Posted inMichigan Government
For some Michigan sheriffs, Gov. Whitmer’s coronavirus orders are optional
At least a half-dozen sheriffs have resisted Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s executive orders during the coronavirus crisis; some belong to a national group that says sheriffs are the final authority on the constitution within their county.
Posted inBusiness Watch
Coronavirus has spared the Keweenaw Peninsula but may kill summer tourism
Untouched until now by COVID-19, this Upper Peninsula tourist haven needs thousands of downstate visitors to keep its economy alive. The opening of restaurants and bars may not be enough to save many of its businesses.