Michigan Health Watch

The sadness and stress of handling so many COVID patients is getting to the state’s frontline health care workers, many of whom already struggled to cope in a job with long hours, little gratitude and daily tragedy.

Michigan now ranks sixth nationally in coronavirus cases and fifth for the number of COVID-19 related deaths, state health officials say.

Beaumont Health paid its chief executive a $2.6 million bonus weeks before the state’s largest hospital system turned to the federal government for a financial bailout.

With a surge on demand for testing — which is expected to grow in the coming days — some labs already face a backlog.

With a surge in COVID cases across the state and country, hospital staff is limited. The CEO’s say another statewide lock-down isn’t the answer but are urging residents instead to take personal steps to reduce spread of the virus.

Santa Staples, born on Christmas Day, was a singular presence at McClaren, where she ran the operating room with military precision. A nurse for 33 years, she died Saturday of COVID-19, one of at least two Michigan nurses lost to the virus in the past week.

The number of coronavirus cases has skyrocketed in recent weeks and those cases are creating increasing demand on hospitals across the state. Health care leaders are calling for more vigilance with masks and social distancing.

Michigan’s public health leaders and doctors begin to wonder: Will a pandemic-weary public take notice?

Cards, drinking, shared meals and sleeping quarters — deer camp traditions could send hunters home with COVID-19 as well as a prized buck, say health officials.