Michigan health officials are reporting 5,937 new cases of the coronavirus and 182 additional COVID-19 deaths. Of the 182 deaths, 132 were identified during a vital records review.
Michigan has now had 421,137 total confirmed coronavirus cases and 10,395 COVID-19 deaths.
Wednesday the state was at 415,200 confirmed cases with 10,213 deaths.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services is now providing weekly updates on the number of people who have recovered from COVID-19. These numbers are updated every Saturday.
As of December 4, 197,750 are being reported as recovered in Michigan.
The state defines ‘recovered’ as the number of persons with a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis who are alive 30 days post-onset (or referral date if onset is not available).
Thursday afternoon, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive order creating the bipartisan Protect Michigan Commission within the Department of Health and Human Services to help raise awareness of the safety and effectiveness of an approved COVID-19 vaccine, educate the people of Michigan, and help protect the health and safety of all Michigan residents.
The commission will serve in an advisory capacity to the governor and state health department and will provide public leadership to elevate and reinforce the importance of an approved COVID-19 vaccine, identify barriers that may impede the acceptance of an approved COVID-19 vaccine by Michigan residents, including identifying areas or groups within this state that are likely to experience vaccine hesitancy, and develop an outreach action plan designed to overcome these barriers.
You can learn more about the Protect Michigan Commission by watching the video below.
You can now buy an over the counter coronavirus test kit.
The FDA approved emergency authorization for the kit.
You swab your nose at home and send it back to a lab.
If you are positive, you will be contacted over the phone or through a doctor.
If you test negative, you will be notified by email or an online portal.
You can buy the non-prescription test kit through Pixel by Lab Corp’s website. You have to be at least 18 years old to buy it.
An end to the coronavirus pandemic may be in sight as the nation pins its hopes on today’s Food and Drug Administration Vaccine Advisory Committee meeting.
They will decide the emergency authorization for Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.
If they vote in favor, the first doses could be shipped as early as this weekend.
They are using the same standards they would for any other vaccine on how well it protects, says The FDA Vaccine Advisory Committee. But they are moving a little faster on the approval process because of the raging outbreak.
On Tuesday, an FDA panel said the Pfizer vaccine is safe and effective and is likely to be green-lighted Thursday.
As we wait for the approval, states have begun planning their first round of vaccines for health care workers and people in nursing homes.
The majority of Americans will have to wait a few months to get a vaccination.
The FDA will hold an emergency use hearing next Thursday about Moderna’s vaccine.
Both the Pfizer and Moderna inoculations have proven to be nearly 95% effective.
The number of people applying for unemployment help last week jumped to its highest point since September.
853,000 made jobless claims.
That number was 716,000 the week before.
It’s a sign that companies are cutting more jobs as new cases skyrocket.
Before the pandemic, weekly jobless claims were usually around 225,000.
Claims in Michigan are down from last week, but not by much.
Just a little over 22,000 new unemployment claims were filed last week, compared to the week before when nearly 23,000 claims were filed.
Still, statewide claims are far below the peak number of claims filed during the pandemic. That came the week of April 4 when more than 388,000 people in Michigan filed for first-time unemployment benefits.
So far, more than $26 billion has been paid to Michigan workers since March 15.
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