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Health
care
officials
watch as
a
vehicle
approaches
a
testing
site at
the
Michigan
State
Fairgrounds,
Friday,
March
27,
2020, in
Detroit.
The city
set up
several
stations
at the
fairgrounds
to allow
for
drive up
testing
for the
coronavirus.
(AP
Photo/Carlos
Osorio)
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Deaths
spike in
Michigan;
top
doctor
warns
about
Detroit
By
DAVID
EGGERT
apnews.com
LANSING,
MI - The
U.S.
surgeon
general
said
Friday
that the
situation
in
Detroit,
a
national
“hot
spot”
for
cases of
the new
coronavirus,
will
worsen
next
week —
as
Michigan
reported
the
highest
daily
spikes
yet: 801
new
cases
statewide
and 32
additional
deaths.
THE
LATEST
Three
counties
in the
Detroit
area —
Wayne,
Oakland
and
Macomb —
account
for 83%
of the
more
than
3,600
people
in
Michigan
confirmed
to have
COVID-19.
At least
92 have
died,
mostly
from the
three-county
region.
The
deceased
ranged
from 36
to 92
years
old,
with a
mediam
age of
70.
Detroit,
Chicago
and New
Orleans
“will
have a
worse
week
next
week,”
Surgeon
General
Jerome
Adams
said on
“CBS
This
Morning.”
Detroit
Mayor
Mike
Duggan
said
police
chief
James
Craig
tested
positive.
“He is
very fit
and he
has mild
symptoms,”
he said.
Gov.
Gretchen
Whitmer’s
administration
previously
began
implementing
a plan
in which
hospitals
outside
southeast
Michigan
are
being
asked to
serve as
“relief”
hospitals
during
the
pandemic.
They
will
offer
10% of
their
usual
bed
capacity
to
accept
patients
from
hospitals
overwhelmed
with
virus
patients.
VENTILATORS
Henry
Ford
Health
System,
which
has five
hospitals
in metro
Detroit
and one
in
Jackson,
sought
to calm
people
after a
draft
letter
to
patients
circulated
on
social
media.
The
document
suggested
the
possibility
of some
very ill
patients
not
being
eligible
for a
ventilator
or care
in an
intensive
care
unit
because
it would
take
resources
from
others
who
might
survive.
Dr.
Adnan
Munkarah,
executive
president
and
chief
clinical
officer,
said the
development
of such
guidelines
are
commonplace
in
crises
and they
would
only be
used
during
an
“extreme
emergency,”
including
if
patients
could
not be
transferred
to other
hospitals
with
open
beds.
“We
hopefully
will
never
have to
share
it,” he
said.
“We’d be
foolish
if we
are not
prepared.”
Munkarah
said an
anesthesiology
machine
used in
operating
rooms
could be
used to
ventilate
patients,
and Ford
was
looking
into
ways to
share
ventilators
between
two
patients
if
needed.
SCHOOLS
Whitmer
told
radio
station
WWJ it
was
“very
unlikely”
students
would
return
to
school
this
spring,
but she
had “not
made
that
call
yet.”
K-12
schools
are in
the
midst of
a
four-week
shutdown.
She will
announce
a plan
next
week to
make
sure
seniors
graduate
and no
child is
held
back due
to the
lack of
face-to-face
instruction,
said
spokeswoman
Tiffany
Brown.
It was
unknown
to what
extent
districts
may be
asked to
do
online
teaching,
which is
happening
in some
communities.
TAX
DEADLINE
Whitmer
on
Friday
delayed
the
April 15
deadline
for
state
taxes to
July 15,
mirroring
a change
in the
federal
due
date.
RESCUE
PACKAGE
Included
in a
$2.2
trillion
federal
rescue
package
that was
signed
into law
Friday
is at
least $2
billion
for
Michigan’s
state
government,
separate
from
additional
funding
that
will go
to
schools
and
universities,
said
budget
office
spokesman
Kurt
Weiss.
He said
the law
does not
let
states
use the
money to
offset
tax
revenue
lost due
to the
economic
downturn
caused
by the
outbreak.
“But
discussions
are
ongoing
in D.C.,
and we
are
hopeful
that
there
will be
some
consideration
for what
this is
doing to
Michigan’s
budget
and
other
state
budgets
across
the
country,”
he said.
UNEMPLOYMENT
The
state
Unemployment
Insurance
Agency,
deluged
with a
record
number
of
applications
for
jobless
benefits,
announced
a
schedule
for
workers
to file
on
certain
days
based on
the
first
letter
of their
last
name. It
urged
people
to file
online
and only
call if
they
cannot
access a
computer
or the
internet.
MAY
ELECTION
Whitmer
ordered
that
local
elections
held on
May 5 be
conducted
to the
greatest
extent
possible
with
absentee
ballots
issued
and
submitted
by mail.
Each
community
must
have at
least
one
place
where
people
can vote
on
Election
Day.
MEDICAL
SUPPLIES
Whitmer
told WWJ
that the
state
contracted
with
companies
for
much-needed
supplies
such as
medical
masks,
but
vendors
were
told not
to send
items to
Michigan.
Her
comments
were
seen as
potentially
suggesting
that the
White
House
punished
the
state
for her
criticism
of
President
Donald
Trump’s
preparedness
for and
response
to the
crisis.
She
later
clarified
her
remarks
to CNN,
saying
shipments
were
delayed
or
canceled
so
equipment
first
goes to
the
federal
government
—
echoing
comments
she had
made
Thursday.
She
mentioned
Massachusetts
and Los
Angeles
as
having
similar
issues.
“This is
an issue
that we
are
confronting
as a
nation,
where we
are
bidding
against
one
another,
where we
are
struggling
to grab
every
PPE
(personal
protective
equipment)
that we
can get
our
hands
on,”
Whitmer
said.
TRUMP
Trump,
who has
taken
exception
to
Whitmer’s
criticism
of his
preparedness
for and
response
to the
public
health
crisis,
said
Whitmer
should
be more
“appreciative.”
He said
Vice
President
Mike
Pence
should
not call
“the
woman in
Michigan.”
The
governor’s
Thursday
request
that
Trump
declare
a
disaster
in
Michigan,
like he
has in
other
states,
is
pending.
“Right
now, we
all need
to be
focused
on
fighting
the
virus,
not each
other,”
Whitmer
tweeted.
“I’m
willing
to work
with
anyone
as long
as we
get the
personal
protective
equipment
we need
for the
people
of
Michigan.”
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