Michigan extending pandemic restrictions
Five weeks added amid virus surge
LANSING, Mich. — Michigan on Friday extended by five weeks a pandemic order that limits business capacity and requires masks in public, even for young children in day care, as the state battles the country’s highest daily coronavirus infection rate.
The measure, which was expected and replaces one that had been due to expire Monday, says that in addition to existing measures, child care facilities and camps must make a “good faith effort” to ensure children ages 2 to 4 wear face coverings starting April 26. That age group was previously exempt.
The revision aligns with recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics, the state health department said. Conservatives criticized putting masks on 2-year-olds.
Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has resisted tightening restrictions that were in place during two previous COVID-19 surges, including prohibitions on indoor restaurant dining, in-person high school instruction and youth sports. She instead is urging a voluntary pause on the activities and pushing vaccinations and treatments.
The order, which goes through May 24 and was signed by Department of Health and Human Services Director Elizabeth Hertel, keeps intact mandatory regular testing of teen athletes. It was first issued in the fall following the state Supreme Court’s invalidation of an emergency-powers law the governor had used to write orders.
Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, the state’s chief medical executive and chief deputy director for health, described progress in vaccinations but said she was “incredibly concerned about our state’s COVID-19 data. We are still very much fighting this pandemic and seeing concerning trends in new cases and hospitalizations.”
Michigan added nearly 9,000 cases and 40 deaths on Friday.
The state’s daily case rate has led the U.S. for weeks. The number of hospitalized adults with confirmed infections hit a record this week. At the end of March, Michigan was among four states where a more transmissible variant, first identified in Britain, accounted for more than half of cases, according to the CDC.
At least 43 percent of people ages 16 and older in Michigan have gotten at least one vaccine dose, including 29 percent who are fully vaccinated.
In other developments:
■ Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy said Friday that COVID-19 vaccines would be made available at key airports in the state starting June 1, in unveiling plans aimed at bolstering the state’s pandemic-battered tourist industry.
■ Drugmaker Eli Lilly says its COVID-19 antibody drug should no longer be given to patients alone because treatment combinations work better fighting some variants of the coronavirus.
■ A Las Cruces high school returned to remote learning on Friday as the school district in New Mexico’s second most populous city investigates a recent off-campus “secret prom” that officials said violated state mandates intended to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
■ The first cases of the so-called Brazil COVID-19 variant have been identified in two samples from residents of Virginia, state health officials said Friday.