By ALEXANDRA CRANDALL
The COVID-19 National Emergency has now been effective in the United States for three months. During this time, guidance from federal agencies has been dynamic as the government adapts to the “new normal.”

But even as the global health crisis halts nonessential travel and disrupts visa issuance to many foreign nationals, federal agencies have published additional guidance and announced special consideration for medical professionals. To be sure, these carve-outs are critical, as 17 percent of medical professionals—and 28 percent of all physicians—in the United States were born outside of the United States.

Medical Professionals Present in the United States:

USCIS has implemented a temporary policy change for former J-1 medical [Read More]

Gov Mulls How To Enforce Mask-Wearing
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said July 9 she is reviewing the state’s current mask-wearing requirements to consider “whether or not we need to take this a step further to strengthen compliance.”

The governor led off her COVID-19 update press event with a picture from the Diamond Lake sandbar party from the over the weekend and said she wanted to make it “very clear” the law still requires people to wear masks in enclosed places of accommodation.

“Make the mask. Make the mask with a political statement saying ‘I hate masks’ if you want. But just wear it,” the governor said toward the end of the press conference.

Whitmer said [Read More]

(This story courtesy of MIRS, a Lansing-based news and information service.)

House Judiciary Committee members had some hard questions May 19 about legislation that would give immunity to hospitals, nursing homes, and health care providers from civil suits related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the end, the bill designed to tie up a loose end caused by the Legislature not extending the governor’s original emergency declaration didn’t move out of committee.

“If this bill passes, if it actually gets signed in its current form, which is incredibly unlikely, then plaintiffs would be unable to bring a suit or a theory saying that there was a failure to exercise appropriate care under the [Read More]

By CARMEN HEREDIA & ANNA ALMENDRALA
As a contact tracer, Teresa Ayala-Castillo is sometimes asked whether herbal teas and Vicks VapoRub can treat COVID-19. These therapies aren’t exactly official health guidance, but Ayala-Castillo isn’t fazed. She listens and then suggests other ideas — like getting rest and drinking plenty of fluids.

“I don’t want to call them old wives’ tales, but these remedies are things that I’m 100 percent familiar with because my mom used them on me,” said Ayala-Castillo, a bilingual first-generation Ecuadorian American who works for the city of Long Beach, California.

Health departments across the United States are working at a furious pace to staff their armies of contact tracers [Read More]

By EWA MATUSZEWSKI
The emergence of a best practices playbook for physician practices following the pandemic is likely as close as any primary care physician practice has come to having a strategic plan. Of course, a playbook or return-to-work strategy is not a strategic plan. It is focused on health and safety for patients, practice teams, vendors and anyone who sets foot in a physician’s office. But if you haven’t considered adopting a broader strategic plan as an offshoot of a playbook, it’s advisable to do so now.

Learn from other industries. I was in the trenches with PCPs as they struggled with financial issues, staff layoffs, insufficient personal protection equipment and [Read More]

By KAITLIN NUCCI
On May 21, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued Executive Order No. 2020-96 in response to the steady drop in confirmed daily cases of COVID-19. This new order has lifted the postponement of non-essential medical and dental procedures as of May 28 at 11:59 PM. Upon the resurgence of these medical and/or dental services, outpatient healthcare facilities will be subject to the workplace safety rules as provided in Executive Order 2020-97. These restrictions aim to continue the downward trend in daily confirmed cases, while acknowledging that COVID-19 remains a danger in the state of Michigan.

Executive Order 2020-97 enacts safeguards that facilities must use in providing non-essential services. These facilities [Read More]

By MARK E. WILSON
Over the past few months the State of Michigan along with the world has been stricken by a pandemic not seen for the last 100 plus years. Throughout the last few months the learning curve has been steep while the best medical and scientific minds have struggled to learn everything possible about the disease.

In Michigan at the end of May there had been nearly 58,000 cases and more than 5500 deaths due to Covid-19. It is likely we will find out that even more people have had the virus but never knew it. The shelter in place, social distancing, masking and closing of the economy were [Read More]

(This feature presented in cooperation with MIRS, a Lansing-based news and information service)

Statewide COVID-19 Testing At Center Of Recovery Plan
Michigan should implement statewide COVID-19 testing system to ensure people coming back into the workforce are not spreading the coronavirus, Business Leaders for Michigan advocated June 1 as part of their economic recovery plan.

The group is suggesting repurposing existing state and federal money and streamlining the government approval process to assist employers in getting their displaced workers back on the job safely.

In laying out the business roundtable’s three-part plan, BLM President & CEO Doug Rothwell also is advocating for the Department of Transportation and county road commissions to put a [Read More]

(This story presented as part of a cooperative effort between Healthcare Michigan and MIRS, a Lansing-based news and information service.)

Detroit reported that the city’s COVID-19 related deaths continues to decline, with nine additional deaths reported May 1, bringing the city’s total to 1,045.
Mayor Mike Duggan said in his daily press briefing that the number of deaths at nursing homes, however, continues to grow. By May 1, 233 nursing home residents and three staff had died after testing positive for COVID-19, he said.

“The numbers are coming down extremely fast,” he said. “What we’re doing is continuing to work … Before this is over, we’re going to find a quarter to [Read More]

By JULIE ROVNER
The United States is in the midst of both a public health crisis and a health care crisis. Yet most people are not aware these are two distinct things. Further, the response for each is going to be crucial.

If you are not a health professional of some stripe, you might not realize that the nation’s public health system operates in large part separately from the system that provides most people’s medical care.

Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, a former deputy commissioner for the Food and Drug Administration and now vice dean at the school of public health at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, distinguishes the health care system from the public health [Read More]