Covid Surge Hits Michigan, CDC Warns State Should Close Down

CNBC: CDC Chief Says Michigan Should ‘Shut Things Down,’ Vaccinating Alone Won’t Stop Covid Surge
A top Biden administration health official said Monday that Michigan should “shut things down” as it grapples with an overwhelming surge in coronavirus cases. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky said a boost in Covid-19 vaccinations alone isn’t the answer — even as Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer calls on the federal government to send more vaccines her way. (Breuninger, 4/12)

Reuters: More Therapeutics But No Surge In Vaccine For Michigan, Biden Administration Says
The White House said on Monday it was prepared to send additional therapeutic treatments to the state of Michigan, which is experiencing a worrying number of COVID-19 cases, but declined to promise more vaccine as the state has sought. White House coronavirus adviser Andy Slavitt told reporters the U.S. government would work to ensure that states such as Michigan were ordering the full amount of vaccine that was available to them but said that shifting distribution was not in line with the administration’s public health strategy. (Mason and O'Donnell, 4/12)

The New York Times: Surging Virus Has Michigan's Whitmer At Loggerheads With Biden
The Biden administration and Michigan’s Democratic governor are locked in an increasingly tense standoff over the state’s worst-in-the-nation coronavirus outbreak, with a top federal health official on Monday urging the governor to lock down her state. As the governor, Gretchen Whitmer, publicly called again for a surge of vaccine supply, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said at a White House news conference that securing extra doses was not the most immediate or practical solution to the outbreak. She said that Michigan — whose metro areas include 16 of the 17 worst outbreaks in the nation — needed to enact shutdown measures to stamp out the crush of infections. (Weiland and Smith, 4/12)

CNN: Michigan Vaccine Rebuff Puts Biden And A Top Ally In A Dicey Political Spot 
President Joe Biden is confronting his most controversial and politically unpalatable moment yet since assuming responsibility for the US' response to the pandemic. His administration's blunt rebuff of a plea by his ally and Michigan's Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to target the state for an increased supply of vaccines to combat a Covid-19 spike represents the kind of tough decision the President will increasingly face on the exit road from the crisis. (Stephen Collinson, 4/13)

CNN: Michigan Could See Its Worst Covid-19 Case Surge Yet, Official Warns. Some Say More Measures Are Needed
With an alarming rise in new Covid-19 infections and hospitalizations, officials say Michigan is now a hotspot for the virus in the US. And it's on track to potentially see a surge in cases "that's even greater than the one we saw in the fall," Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, the state's chief medical executive, said in a Friday news conference. Just how bad are things in the state? Covid-19 cases per million people are four times higher what they were in mid-February. The percent of positive tests are also four times higher than the numbers then. (Maxouris, 4/13)

Modern Healthcare: COVID Hospitalizations In Michigan Top Fall Surge; Beaumont Seeing Nurse 'Burnout'
The number of ill Michigan residents with positive cases of COVID-19 occupying hospital beds in the state has surpassed the fall surge in hospitalizations, straining health care systems that are still rebounding from the last wave of infections. On Monday, Michigan hospitals reported 3,918 COVID-positive patients occupying about 18% of hospital beds across the state, surpassing the fall peak of 3,884 on Dec. 1. COVID hospitalizations have increased more than 26% in a week and nearly 83% from two weeks ago with 61% of COVID patients in Southeast Michigan hospitals. (Livengood, 4/12)