pandemic

The numbers of people using a western Michigan airport are approaching levels prior to the start of restrictions put in place due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Management at Gerald R. Ford International Airport outside Grand Rapids say travel numbers are about 90% of what they were in March 2020, WOOD-TV reported.

About 60,000 people are expected to travel through the airport in Cascade Township in the next 10 days.

The airport finished 2020 with half the number of travelers it normally sees. By the end of this year, it is hoping to get closer to 70%.

Michigan, where COVID-19 is surging more than in any state, on Thursday reported its first confirmed case of a coronavirus variant that was initially identified in Brazil.

There are concerns it might affect re-infect people who have already had COVID-19. The variant was found in a resident in Bay County, where the local health officials were investigating the person’s exposure history.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer asked the White House on Tuesday if it would consider sending additional COVID-19 vaccines to states, including Michigan, that face surging coronavirus cases.

Whitmer later announced that the state’s direct allotment of doses — which is separate from vaccines going to pharmacies from the federal government — will total about 620,000 next week, a record. That is 12%, or roughly 66,000, more than this week and includes a substantial boost in the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Michigan is set to expand vaccine eligibility starting Monday, a move that comes as public health experts voice fresh concerns about the state’s rising COVID-19 infection rate.

Residents age 50 and older will be eligible for vaccines starting Monday. Ford Field in Detroit is set to open Wednesday as Michigan’s first federally run mass vaccine site.

However, the state’s COVID-19 cases have been increasing. Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, Michigan’s chief medical executive, said the state’s case rate spiked 77% over the past four weeks to 172.9 cases per million people.

Supporters boarded the doors at a western Michigan restaurant to show authorities that the owner will keep it closed, a condition necessary to spring her from jail for violating court orders related to COVID-19.

Marlena Pavlos-Hackney, meanwhile, remained in custody Saturday, 90 miles away at the Ingham County jail.

Holly Shashaguay said she helped board up Marlena’s Bistro and Pizzeria in Holland on Friday night.

“When I painted that ‘complied’ sign, I was crying the whole time,” Shashaguay told MLive.com. “We didn’t want to do it, but we did.”

Michigan on Friday eased outdoor stadium capacity restrictions before baseball’s opening day but ordered weekly rapid testing of teen athletes amid a climbing coronavirus case rate that ranks fourth nationally over the past week.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said, for now, she does not plan to tighten COVID-19 restrictions her administration had gradually loosened in recent months — noting ongoing vaccinations while also citing concerns about virus variants that more easily spread.

Michigan had the country’s fifth-highest rate of new COVID-19 cases in the last week and is among 14 states where infections rose over the past two weeks, a trend that may be tied to the increasing prevalence of a more contagious coronavirus variant, health officials said Wednesday.

It's a question occupying the minds of employees who have worked from home the past year: Will they still be allowed to work remotely - at least some days - once the pandemic has faded? On Wednesday, one of America's corporate titans, Ford Motor Co., supplied its own answer: It told about 30,000 of its employees worldwide who have worked from home that they can continue to do so indefinitely, with flexible hours approved by their managers.

Michigan appears poised to amend a 1,000-patron limit so more Detroit Tigers fans can attend home games on Opening Day and after. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's office said Monday that the state health department has had talks with the team "to find a safe path forward to expand capacity limits at the stadium." A state order says outdoor entertainment and recreational facilities can have no more than 1,000 customers gathered. Critics, including Republican lawmakers, say that is too low since Comerica Park holds more than 41,000. Opening Day is April 1.

Allegations that New York intentionally manipulated data regarding COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes has led Republicans to demand an investigation in Michigan, where Gov. Gretchen Whitmer — early in the pandemic — told such facilities to admit or readmit COVID-affected residents under certain conditions.

The University of Michigan will be in-person instruction this fall, have nearly 80% of residents halls open and allow fans back into athletic events, the university announced Friday.

This reopening of campus since students went online last March is based on the presumption that all faculty and staff that are planning on getting vaccinated will be able to before classes begin Aug. 30, university communications said in a news release.

Visitors will be allowed at Michigan prisons for the first time in a year, the Corrections Department said Friday.

Visitors will be given a fast COVID-19 test and have their temperature checked. Physical contact between prisoners and visitors will be prohibited.

Visits will resume March 26.