Health experts say testing needs to ramp up to better track and slow down the spread of the virus. The state says it currently has capacity to test for 1,300 cases of the disease.
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
States are taking drastic measures to contain coronavirus. Is Michigan next?
Michigan should consider containment, bans on gatherings to “flatten the curve” and slow the spread of the coronavirus, experts say. ‘If I overdo it, so be it,’ one expert says.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Fever, but must work. Will coronavirus change paid sick leave in Michigan?
Restaurant and direct care workers with no paid sick leave could increase coronavirus risk for Michigan, which currently exempts businesses with fewer than 50 workers from being compelled to offer paid leave.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Michigan reports first two coronavirus cases, in Wayne and Oakland counties
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer confirmed the cases late Tuesday involving two residents who recently traveled, one internationally.
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
As Michigan battle rages on Line 5, Enbridge quietly buys land for tunnel
Enbridge Energy is spending millions for residential properties near Mackinaw City, apparently confident of winning lawsuits contesting a planned tunnel. Local residents say they welcome the revenue for schools and roads.
Posted inMichigan Government
Michigan agrees to pay $80 million in juvenile prison suit, enact reforms
Attorney General Dana Nessel agrees to pay $80 million and make prison changes to settle lawsuits alleging sexual assault of juvenile prisoners in adult prisons.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Michigan Senate moves to deregulate health care
Bills approved Thursday would make it easier to add new psychiatric beds and build hospitals. The measure dropped language impacting rural hospitals and some outpatient heart procedures.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Sheriff’s plea on mentally ill prisoner reveals gap in Michigan treatment
An Upper Peninsula sheriff went to Facebook to get state help for a delusional man in his jail. His post highlights severe shortages in the state for violent or severely mentally ill people caught up in the criminal justice system.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
For new Michigan moms with postpartum depression, where to turn for help
Postpartum depression afflicts about one in seven moms. Diagnosis and treatment lag, especially among low-income, African-American and Latino mothers. Here’s a primer on where to turn.
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
How Trump clean water rule impacts Michigan’s wetlands and streams
Michigan farmers and business groups endorse the clarity they say the Trump rule brings to commercial practices. Environmentalists warn that wetlands would vanish and pollutants increase in the state’s lakes and streams.