Today is tuesday may 26th. Governor whitmer wonderful, good afternoon. Todays tuesday, may 26. Im joined by dr. Calhoun, dr. Martin, associate professor of epidemiology at university of Michigan School of Public Health, and Beverly Allen of cvs, a subsidiary of aetna. The families all across the world. People everywhere have grieved the loss of parents, of sibling, of children and friends. Nearly 100,000 people in the United States have died from the coronavirus. The New York Times reported that more americans have died of the coronavirus in the last 12 weeks than died in vietnam and the korean wars combined and nearly twice as many as died of battle wounds during world war i. In terms of american deaths this virus is the equivalent of 22 iraq wars, 33 september 11th attacks, 41 afghanistan wars, 42 pearl harbors or 25,000 ben gausys. Its important to never stop recognizing the human toll that this has taken. I want to highlight a couple of people from our home state who lost the battle with covid19. Lyle from whitehal died at the age of 64 on may 13th. Lyle worked at the Muskegon Community Mental Health and most recently was working at the Roosevelt Park nursing and rehabilitation center. Edwin and gwynn da listen c carmichael were married for 53 years. They died one day apart. They participated in meals on wheels. Edmond was a vietnam veteran and deacon at hartford Memorial Park church. Families across michigan and across the United States are grieving. Most of us know someone who has been impacted by this virus, whether its someone who passed away, someone grieving a friend, or one of those serving on the front lines of this crisis has a healthcare worker, first responder, utility worker or Grocery Store clerk. We all have a responsibility to do our part to protect our neighbors, friends and front line here heros, and we must do everything in our power to lower the chance of a second wave. And one of the most powerful tools we have is widespread testing. We need to keep working to expand testing and require people who test positive to isolate from others so we can prevent that community spread. Its crucial that people at risk of catching this virus get tested. Were working were working incredibly hard to make it easier for everyone to get tested. The Michigan National guard partnered with the veterans administration, the state Emergency Operations center and numerous other local partners this weekend to offer nocost covid19 tests to residents in muskegon county. They tested 1,018 people. We had testing expanded in flint as well this past weekend. And today i sign an executive order that expands the type of medical personnel that can order a test to include nurses, physicians assistants and pharmacists. This creates a new category of testing sites that offer testing to anyone that has reason to be tested without charging out of pocket costs. Under this executive order, anyone who leaves their work for home or who has symptoms of covid19, even mild symptoms, may receive a test at a Community Testing location without securing a doctors order in advance. And dr. Calhoun has also announced expanded criteria today. So now michiganders who are eligible include someone who exhibits any symptom of covid19, someone who has been exposed to a person diagnosed with covid19 or has symptoms, someone who has someone who has been working outside of their home for ten days, someone who resides in a longterm care facility as a few examples. If you go to a Community Testing location, medical personnel will be able to order testing upon arrival. A person who wishes to be tested may call the michigan coronavirus hot line at 18885356136 or visit www. Michigan. Gov coronavirustest. Getting tested is simple. I went last thursday to the sparrow testing facility in lancing. It was quit and painless. It was pretty easy. If you fit this expanded criteria, i hope you will find a test site near you and go get tested. Beverly allen from cvs is here today to talk about how cvs is partnering with the state to help get more people tested. Cvs joined forces to provide drivethrough Rapid Testing in dearborn at 16301 Michigan Avenue at no cost to el ijable michiganders. The sight has the capacity to test 500 to 750 residents daily. In a moment, beverly will talk about further measures cvs is going to be taking to help expand testing. This executive order that i signed also paves the way for more Community Testing sites. We owe it to our medical workers and First Responders and other essential workers to do what we can to stop the spread of this virus. Another way that michiganders can do their part is to stay informed. Dr. Martin and her colleagues have been working around the clock to develop a resource for people to learn more about covid19 in their area and across the state. They have developed a dashboard at mystartmap. Info designed to monster the status of covid19 indicators across the state of michigan. It tracks the michigan regions and counties. The two goals are to assist Public Health officials in making state, regional, and countylevel decisions related to covid19 and to provide the general public with incite into some of the indicators that effect our Public Health decisions. Some of the data points you can find on this dashboard are among other things the percent of positive tests, the number of tests being administered, the number of new cases and the number of deaths. This is a great visual representation of where we are. It shows us which phase of the my safe start plan each region is in, and it can give you a sense of what were looking at as we make decisions about how to safely reengage our economy. Dr. Martin will give you a brief overview of the dashboard, and i encourage everyone to stay informed. This has been a tough 12 weeks. I know a lot of people are feeling restless. I am as well. I urge you to stay safe to do everything in your power to protect yourself and your family. If we all keep doing our part, were hoping that we can continue to announce additional time lines for shifting more regions of the state into phase 4 soon. Covid19 is still very present, though. It is still a reality here in michigan, and thats why we all have to continue to do our part. People are losing loved ones every day in this country. We owe it to our fellow michiganders and our heros on the front line to stay smart and do our part. We will get through this together. Thank you, and with that, ill hand it over to dr. Calhoun. Thank you, governor. Today we announced 5,266 deaths in the state of michigan. The rate of rise of cases continues to decline overall as a state. We also know people are recovering. As of last friday 33,168 people have survived 30 days after being diagnosed with the disease. This is good news. On a regional basis, cases are steadily declining. Cases continue to be low in the upper northern peninsula, and the upper peninsula. However, the grand rapids region of the state continues to have the highest rate of new cases per Million People with rates above 40 cases per Million People per day. As we slowly reopen the economy, it will be important for us to monitor data, to make sure we are testing sufficiently, and to make sure we are swiftly responding to and containing any outbreaks. Even if cases are low in an area, it does not mean that all of the risk is gone. People should remain vigilant in all areas of the state. As we move to reopen the economy, it will be paramount that we continue to expand and improve our data reporting so that the public has a good understanding of where we are with the spread of the disease across the state. We are grateful for the partnership between the Michigan Department of health and Human Services and the university of michigan to develop the my staf safe start map. In this dashboard, local Health Officials and the general public will be able to understand where we are as a state with several indicators. This will be important so everyone understands where we are with the disease. Were also making great progress in expanding diagnostic testing across the state. Last week our tests increased 5 over the previous week with a sevenday average of 14,420 tests per day. The state of michigan has received and processed more test results for covid19 in the past three months than for all rep t reportable diseases in all of 2019. Today were removing even more barriers to testing. As the governor mentioned, we are expanding our testing criteria significantly. Anyone, even if they dont have symptoms can get a test if they have been exposed to someone with symptoms or someone who has a diagnosis of covid19, if they are leaving their home for work, or they are determined to be a priority for testing by a local Health Department or clinician even if they do not have symptoms and with the governors executive order today, no one needs a doctors order before they can go to a testing site. Nurses, pharmacists and physicians assistants are able to administer tests. You can go to our website, www. Michigan. Gov coronavirustest to find a site near them. We have over 250 testing sites across the state and we are expanding more and more every day. And many sites offer testing with no out of pocket costs. So i encourage people to seek out a test if you believe you need one. Covid19 is going to change the way we live for sometime, but we are making progress. Because of the great work of all of you across the state. Things like social distancing, wearing a mask, and washing hands. Were seeing cases and deaths decline, but no matter what part of the state that you live in, covid19 is still a threat. Please do not let down your guard and remain vigilant. We will get through this. And with that ill turn it over to dr. Emily martin. Thank you. Today on behalf f our team at the university of michigan, im happy to announce the my safe start map. Its an interactive dashboard with real time regional and county specific data. The dashboard includes a display of key caters. The caters and the risk benchmarks are going to be based on the best available scientific data, evaluated by a team of faculty members at the university of Michigan School of Public Health. The risk levels on the dashboard tell us whether theres a high, medium, or low risk of covid19 in the community. This highlights areas where more social distancing may be needed or vulnerable individuals should be particularly careful. My safe start map has been collaboratively developed, guided by faculty from the university of Michigan School of Public Health. This group has done incredible work in a short period of time to make these indicators accessible for every day use. Keeping our families and businesses safe and healthy during this epidemic requires us all to keep a watchful eye on coronavirus in our community. Its our hope that the map will be a useful tool for guiding our own choices, serving as a window into the data as we continue to fight the coronavirus epidemic together. Thank you. Thank you, Governor Whitmer for inviting us here today. Im Beverly Allen, chief executive officer of Aetna Better Health of michigan a subsidiary of cvs health. On behalf of all of us at cvs health, especially our 6400 colleagues here in michigan, i want to thank you and your team for your continued partnership. Because of our expansive capabilities across michigan, including 250 pharmacy locations, a leading pharmacy benefits management business that serves 400,000 members and aetna that delivers marketleading health plans to 380,000 people, cvs health is uniquely positioned to partner with the state of michigan not only in its response to the pandemic, but also taking care of michiganders in each community we serve, including the most vulnerable on medicaid. The governors order allows pharmacists to conduct covid19 tests in recognition of the Critical Role that pharmacists play in our communities in providing access to healthcare. Todays action will help us as we expand our testing capabilities in michigan, working together, we can help slow the spread of the virus. I am particularly proud that we have been able to immediately respond to the needs of the communities we serve, and that includes opening and operating largescale testing sites like the one in dearborn. What we have been able to accomplish so far could not be done without the tireless efforts of cvs Health Employees all across the state. Whether its overseeing test sites, ensuring patients get the help they need, or ensuring our stores are stocked with essential goods, im inspired by my colleagues each and every day. The deerborn testing location has been operating for the last month, and has the capacity to complete approximately 750 tests per day. With real time results. We have had these sites up in five states and have been able to complete testing for 30,000 individuals every week. Since opening our first test sites, our focus has been on Peoples Health and uniting around one common goal, increasing the availability of testing. Later this week, we will be expanding our testing capabilities across michigan by offering self swab tests at 16 cvs pharmacy locations. Part of our goal of having up to 1,000 cvs pharmacy locations across the country. Test willing take place at drivethrew windows, not inside our stores, which will remain open to customers. This nationwide expansion will give us the capacity to process up to 1. 5 million tests per month, contributing to the countrys effort to stop the spread of covid19, and helping states like michigan safely reopen their economies. Another important consideration in our testing strategy is the reality that minorities have been disproportionately impacted by the virus. We have partnered with several organizations including the National Medical association to help improve access to testing and necessary care for historically underserved communities. Our covid19 testing effort is just one of our many pandemicfocused initiatives. Another critical part of our response has been in Mental Health. We believe that while it is less visible, the escalating Mental Health crisis is emerging as a second curve we are hoping to help flatten. Since march 1st, we have seen a 200 increase in virtual Mental Health visits. Healthcare workers are under extreme safe fighting to save lives and many times isolating themselves after shifts to keep their own families safe. Addressing Mental Health needs is a prior for us, and we are expanding resources through aetna to all health care worksers, essential workers, and senior citizens. Our covid19 response has been all inclusive, including making telemedicine more available. Supporting Healthcare Providers and clinicians so they can focus on the critical patient care and ensuring patients have options when filling prescriptions. The cvs health team is part of an army of countless professionals and front line workers who have brought the country together through their efforts and compassionate acts. Governor whitmer, thanks again for your partnership and your leadership, and for including and inviting us here today. Thank you. Thank you. We appreciate your partnership as well. And dr. Martin thank you for all of the work that the university of michigan has done to help us. Before i open it up for q a, i thought that i would take a moment to say a few words. You know, this has been a tough time. Theres no question. We have been 12 weeks into this, and it is something that i think has been difficult for many. This crisis is not about me and it never has been. Its about a killer virus that is confronting all americans. We need to have some perspective, and remember that this is about the people of michigan, who are mourning the loss of a loved one, or the loss of a business or job. Its about our brave First Responders who put their lives on the line taking care of others. Over the past couple of months we have seen an explosion of rampant rumors and violent Death Threats against me and my family online. Im not going to get into the business of refuting or discussing every aspect of my whereabouts, because frankly there is just too many to keep up with. That said, i do feel compelled to address the most recent one about my husband mark. My husband made a failed attempt at humor last week. Knowing it wouldnt make a difference he jokingly asked if being married to me might move him up in the queue at the boat business. Obviously in our early days of covid19 he thought it might get a laugh. It didnt. And to be honest, i wasnt laughing either when i was relayed to me. He regrets it. I wish it wouldnt have happened, and thats really all we have to say about it. My family, like most, has been staying home these last couple of months. For me, that included effectively canceling my own daughters prom and graduation ceremony. But it gets worse. My family has had men with automatic rifles standing in view of our front window outside of our home. We have read the vial things people have said and written in response to my stay home stay safe order. My daughters have seen the likeness of their mother hung from a noose. We have weathered demonstrations that were egged on or participated in by some sitting republican leaders. Even my neighbors have been terrorized as they tried to enjoy their memorial day weekend despite the fact that i was 200 miles away. Covid19 has been a tough chapter for us all. Im not likening my experience to someone who is mourning the loss of their loved one, or business, or job, but thats why precisely, we have to get this right, because none of us, not one of us ever wants to go through this again with a second wave. Now im not going to be bullied into ignoring the science and making political calculations. And as we have seen across the country, lets not us here in michigan have made this sacrifice in vein, and see our numbers start to rise again. It will be a long time before we have vaccines or herd immunity or a cure, and that means we have to learn to live with this virus for the time being. That means masks and distancing, and hand washing. It means staying close to home. We need to rise to this occasion and not devolve into our worst selves, and that means everyone should take a deep breath. Lets all take a moment to show empathy, lets all try to show a little kindness, and lets all try to have a little patience. That goes for my family and yours. Because we are all michiganders and we are all in this together. With that, i would be happy to open it up for a few questions. Reporter governor, one of the questions that were hearing about is what the status is of cooperation between the midwestern governors. You have talked about this before, but we know that someone who lives in niles can go to you know, can just go south of the border and do things in indiana that they couldnt do in michigan. So where is the status of the regional arrangement that you have talked about in the past . When we announced our consortium coming together, it was so we could share best practices, best information and help one confront issues, and try to improve upon experiences. We have been having regular conversations with the governors. Our staffs are talking even more regularly than the governors are. Because we are all facing similar issues. Last week we talked a lot about child care and how do we reengage in that sphere so that people who are going back to work have the care that they need for their kids. And states are proceeding in different ways, but i think you know, the goal of this, you know, coming together, has really been to make sure that we are able to share information and our best practices and our thought processes. When i contemplated shutting bars and making restaurants dineout only, we were just days after having seen ohio and illinois take similar action. So instead of hunting one another down, having a regular cadence, that is a lot of value. When im talking to the governor, he is getting the benefit of the university of michigan and im getting the benefit of cleveland cling. It was never meant to say, that this whole region takes every step choreographed together, but we are sharing information, and that means we have been in a stronger position to save lives and try to get this right. I want to show you a picture that i saw on cnn earlier today. As we are coming off of a holiday weekend, where we know some people dropped their guard. Everyone saw the pictures in the ozarks. This is something to be proud of. This doesnt mean were done. We know of some reporter [ inaudible ]. So this is a map that was on cnn this morning. The source is john hopkins. It shows that there are nine states that have started to see a decline in coronavirus in their cases this past week versus the week beforehand. Michigan is one of only ten states that is in that light green. There is only one state that is in the dark green. But everyone else is either steady or climbing. Michigan, the work that we have done is paying off. This is just one representation. The better information is going to be on the website that that we discussed earlier, during this press conference. We cant afford to drop our guard now, and some of the stories from this weekend were disturbing. Im you know, want people to recognize that in order for us to keep moving forward as a state you know, were looking at the possibility of moving other regions into phase 4, but its because of what we have done as a state. We have got to keep it up. Reporter governor, i know you did just address some of the rumors that were surfacing on the internet. When you opened regions six and eight, you advised people to not rush up there and overwhelm the area. There were reports that you did spend time up north. Are those reports true . As you know, a few weeks ago we dropped the travel ban so if people had a second resident, they were permitted to go to a second resident. My husband did go up to our place and raked some leaves and came home. So he was there. He did not all pile in the car to go enjoy our second home, although that would have been permitted. But he was there, briefly, for one or two nights, and came right back home after he raked our leaves. Reporter could you update us on the status of longterm care facility reporting . I know were transitioning to a new process. Tell us what hasnt been worked and what we can expect . Im going to hand this over to dr. J. Yes, so great question. If you go to our website now, it will say we are currently updating it. We are working are our longterm care facilities to make sure were getting Accurate Information and that they understand what were asking them to report. What we found before is every facility had a different interpretation of how to report. Cms at the federal level has asked everyone in the country to report in a certain way, so now were aligning with the cms guidance, and we will be updating our website with the most accurate data when that is available. Reporter im not sure if this is for you Governor Whitmer or dr. Calhoun, but you talked about the difference in experience in the grand rapids area. Do you have any understanding of why were seeing more cases . Im going to hand it over to dr. Caldoun. As a state we had one trend, but we knew every region might have a different look when it comes to the rate of rise and when cases go up and how high they go up. Right now what were seeing in grand rapids is they have a higher rate of cases per million than any other part of the state right now, but what is important is that they are also continuing to come down. There are several outbreaks. Our local Health Departments are working closely on that, but it will change on a daily basis. Reporter governor is there any update on the return to Learn Advisory Council and plans as to how we would safely reopen schools if that is done in the fall . We had over a thousand people apply to be on this council, which its not going to be a thousandperson council, so its a great thing that we have so many people that are bringing expertise and experience to the table. One of the i think fundamental things we want to Start Talking about right away are camps. I know there are a lot of camps in michigan that are trying 20 determine whether or not they reopen, and we want to give them guidance soon. I think in the coming weeks we will have that. This will be an initial task that i hope theyll be able to undertake quickly. So there will be more in the coming days on that. Reporter when will we start to see results from Antibody Testing . And so far what are we learning from those tests . Im going to hand it back to dr. J. Last thursday i took my covid19 test and i got a serology test. Both were very easy to do. The more people that get tested, the better. We can get a better appreciation for how real covid19 is, how many people are really carrying it. That gives us in a much stronger position to make determinations about when we can safely take that next step forward. Dr. J, talk about serology. Yes. So we are now reporting serology tests across the state. You can go to our website we actually improved it over the weekend. I think its also important that we understand the difference between the serology test and the dna tests. Right now the fda has really only approved the serology test to look at brood populations. There is so much more we have to learn. If you have the antibody, does that mean you are immune . And if you are, for how long . So serology tests should not be used to determine whether or not someone should go back to work. Are you posting the results or just the numbers . The numbers of positive tests that are on our website. Reporter so and im taking this from a wall street journal piece that was published today, and says that we still have a testing shortfall. We know that in order to get a test, you have to have a reason to get a test, so does this mean that we are actually undercounting the number of covid cases out there, and if so, do we have any idea of of of what that range might be . So again, im going to hand this to dr. J reporter seems like a good idea. Im just going to say what i have come to appreciate about this being such a novel virus. We dont know. And Everyone Wants answers including me. I would love to give you a definitive response to every question, including will my daughter have a graduation this summer . That being said when it comes to the testing, the best thing we can do is do more testing, and thats why we really need assistance from the federal government to make sure we have access to all of the reagents and swabs. We want to be able to exit every test we are capable of here in michigan, but were still working every day with the federal government and procurement to make sure we have an abundance of these things, but that still is a shortcoming. And its critical to point out, if we could just perform tests the way we do a flu test for anyone who walks in, we would have a lot more information to determine how prevalent covid19 is. Right now there are asymptomatic people who will not go get a test, because they dont fall into these guidelines. So as we continue to ramp up, that will be improved, but were not there yet, and that continues to be an issue for us. Dr. J . Sure, so theres no question that as a country we are behind in getting testing up. A few months ago, we could only test people who were in the hospital, so we have always known we werent testing enough people. What we focused on is getting up our capacity, and we have also expanded our testing criteria. So with the memo i sent out to our Healthcare Providers today, any Healthcare Provider who believe someone needs to get a test, they can get that done. If you are in a rural or urban area, you can get a test done whether you have symptoms or not. Its important when we think about these tests if you do a test on someone who does not have symptoms and they are also at very, very low risk, you are likely to get a low false result. But theres no question we need to continue to expand our testing significantly and we have been doing that in the state. Reporter governor, do you plan to make an exception for census takers to go door to door . We have not talked about what that looks like at this juncture. Some of the initial census response was that michigan was, i think thirdbest in the count think when it comes to response to the census. It doesnt mean were done. And the tough irony of making a census in covid19 times. With regard to whether or not well be getting to the doors with the census, i think its i cant give you a definitive response at this point, but its something that were talking about. Reporter [ inaudible ]. Reporter i would like to transition to the flooding in midland. What will be the states role in the future of the lakes, particularly when it comes to investigating what happened. Will you name someone independent to do that, and what is the future of rebuilding that infrastructure and taking control of it . I appreciate the question. I think that tomorrow well have something to talk about on that front, specifically, and i plan to make another trip to midland tomorrow. I think that its really important to note that i met with fema at the end of last week. We talked quite a bit about the variety of work we are doing jointly on behalf of the people of midland and the greater area, and i spoke with the chairperson of ferc, which is the federal commission that was over oversees three out of the four dams and that there is work that is being done at that level in conjunction as well, so we plan to do our Due Diligence and ensure that we have a full vetting of all of the information and we have a plan going forward. Thank you, governor. All right. Thank you. Watch cspans daily unfiltered coverage of the governments response to the coronavirus pandemic with briefings from the white house, congress, and governors from across the country. Join us on our live callin program, washington journal. If you miss coverage come watch any time on demand at cspan. Org coronavirus. Here is a look at our live coverage wednesday on cspan, the house returned to 10 00 a. M. For general speeches. The slate of business begins at noon. For the first time in its history come they will have the thet vote by proxy and house will use proxy voting to vote on reauthorizing pfizer and sa and covid19 legislation. On cspan to watch the live coverage of astronauts from american soil and american spacecraft since 2011. Live coverage of the spacex crew dragon launch ginza 12 15 p. M. As nat th liftoff astronauts launch to the International Space station. Later he postlaunch briefing with jim bridenstine. Joining us for that conversation is kathryn newcomer. Thank you for joining us this morning. Guest
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