Michigan was warned about British COVID-19 variant, but many ignored it
Tresa Baldas, Detroit Free Press, and Mohar Chatterjee, Derek Kravitz and Bianca Fortis, Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism, Columbia Journalism School
Local health departments across Michigan started sounding the alarm months ago.
A deadlier coronavirus variant that had first ravaged Britain was now here in metro Detroit, at the University of Michigan, a state prison in Ionia and rural counties in the Thumb region with doctors, nurses and public health officials fully aware.
And yet Michiganders from state prison employees to small business owners and local officials to parents of high school athletes ignored medical experts repeated warnings about the highly infectious variant. They rebuffed stay-in-place recommendations, allowed crowded events to occur and turned a blind eye to defiant behavior, according to thousands of internal health department emails and contact tracing notes f
Michigan was warned about the British COVID-19 variant, but many ignored it msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Michigan was warned about British COVID-19 variant, but many ignored it
Tresa Baldas, Detroit Free Press, and Mohar Chatterjee, Derek Kravitz and Bianca Fortis, Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism, Columbia Journalism School
Local health departments across Michigan started sounding the alarm months ago.
A deadlier coronavirus variant that had first ravaged Britain was now here in metro Detroit, at the University of Michigan, a state prison in Ionia and rural counties in the Thumb region with doctors, nurses and public health officials fully aware.
And yet Michiganders from state prison employees to small business owners and local officials to parents of high school athletes ignored medical experts repeated warnings about the highly infectious variant. They rebuffed stay-in-place recommendations, allowed crowded events to occur and turned a blind eye to defiant behavior, according to
Michigan coronavirus surge penetrates prisons, but there are signs of progress
Updated Apr 07, 2021;
Posted Apr 07, 2021
Sign outside the Michigan Department of Corrections Muskegon Correctional Facility and the Ernest C. Brooks Correctional Facility (or E.C. Brooks) in Muskegon on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020. (Cory Morse | MLive.com)Cory Morse | MLive.com
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Inside the tight confines of prison, disease has fertile ground to fester.
Statewide, Michigan is reporting some of the highest new coronavirus numbers since December, and the prison system has again been hit hard, but is showing signs of improvement as statewide inmate vaccination efforts near completion.
Approaching 80% of nearly 33,000 inmates at some point during the pandemic have tested positive, according to data available on the Michigan Department of Corrections case tracking website.
Michigan prisoners are getting vaccine, many officers may be declining lenconnect.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from lenconnect.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.