The window at this downtown Marquette business sends a message of strength and hope. (Journal photo by Trinity Carey)

The COVID-19 health care jobs portal features more than 7,000 openings for a variety of positions, including registered nurses and licensed professional nurses, certified nurse aides, licensed professional nurses, respiratory therapists at long-term care facilities, hospitals and in other settings. Full-time, part-time and temporary positions are available.  

The portal can be accessed at MiTalent.org/covid-19-healthcare-jobs.

“Social distancing is working. We seem to be heading in the right direction, but our fight against COVID-19 isn’t over. Doctors, nurses and other health care workers are putting their lives on the line to treat our communities,” said Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, chief medical executive and chief deputy for health at MDHHS, in a news release. “We must ensure COVID-19 units and long-term care facilities not only have enough PPE, but also the trained professionals they need to provide critical care to COVID-19 patients, take care of their teams and continue to save lives.”

Dental services limited

For Friday, May 8.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s Executive 2020-77, which extends the stay-at-home order until May 28, doesn’t alter the previous Executive Order 2020-17, which restricts all health providers such as dentists to performing only essential services, according to the Michigan Dental Association.

Executive Order 2020-17 expires the same time as the emergency declaration, which is set to expire at 11:59 p.m. May 28.

The MDA cautioned on its website at michigandental.org/Member-Center/Coronavirus-Update that this might be extended again.

This means dentists continue to be limited to providing only emergency and essential services, the MDA said. Additionally, the stay-at-home order prevents patients from leaving their homes unless they seek emergency care or to sustain life, and it prevents dental team staff from leaving their homes unless emergency care is needed.

The MDA’s goal, it said, is to get Executive Order 2020-17 separated from the emergency declaration to provide more certainty on when restrictions for dental practice will end.

Programs available

The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation alert the state’s food and agriculture companies of their eligibility for the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan and EIDL Advance programs.

Qualified Michigan food and agriculture businesses that have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and have fewer than 500 employees, are encouraged to prepare their business financial information and apply. 

SBA’s EIDL portal has been reopened for farmers and agriculture businesses affected by the Coronavirus pandemic.

“This is the first time agricultural producers are eligible for the programs, and it couldn’t come at a more critical moment for Michigan’s food and agriculture industry,” said MDARD Director Gary McDowell in a news release.

Fractures in the food supply chain are being seen across the United States, he said, and every resource available is needed to “weather this storm.”

“Small businesses drive the economies of our communities, and we understand that farmers and agricultural businesses are facing unprecedented challenges in the face of COVID-19,” said Mark A. Burton, CEO of the MEDC, in a news release. “Federal EIDL loans are helping provide vital economic support to small businesses to help overcome the temporary loss of revenue they are experiencing, and it is good news for our state that food and agriculture companies are now eligible to apply.” 

For more information and to apply, visit www.sba.gov/disaster.

Christie Mastric can be reached at cbleck@miningjournal.net.