MARQUETTE — Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Robert Gordon on Monday applauded a recent decision by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan regarding a lawsuit challenging the department’s order requiring testing to protect farm and food processing employees from COVID-19.

The court denied a temporary restraining order regarding the department’s emergency order.

“MDHHS appreciates the judge’s ruling,” Gordon said in a statement. “The department’s goal is to save lives during a pandemic that has killed more than 6,300 people in Michigan. At a time when farms, food processing plants and migrant worker camps face 21 outbreaks, the best way to save lives is to support and test these hard-working employees.”

MLive reported on Thursday that Michigan farmers say an emergency order requiring mandatory COVID-19 testing of farm workers violates the civil rights of the Latino community, with individual farm employees and employers, as well as True Blue Berry Management, LLC, and Smeltzer Orchards Co., LLC, filing the federal lawsuit.

The lawsuit stated that migrant/seasonal workers and workers in the meat, poultry and egg processing industries are predominantly Latino, according to MLive.

“The order clearly targets the Latino community, and the state has been really clear that they’ve singled out this minority class,” Allison Eicher, an attorney for the Michigan Farm Bureau, was quoted as saying. “No other group in the state is subject to mandatory testing for work except for nursing home workers.”

The order, which was announced on Aug. 3, now remains in effect. It requires migrant housing camp operators to provide COVID-19 testing as follows:

≤ One-time baseline testing of all residents ages 18 and over;

≤ Testing of all new residents within 48 hours of arrival, with separate housing for newly arriving residents for 14 days and a second test 10 to 14 days after arrival; and

≤ Testing of any resident with symptoms or exposure.

Employers of migrant or seasonal workers; meat, poultry and egg processing facilities; and greenhouses with over 20 employees on site at a time are to provide COVID-19 testing as follows:

≤ One-time baseline testing of all workers;

≤ Testing of all new workers prior to any in-person work; and

≤ Testing of any worker with symptoms or exposure.

The deadline for businesses to comply is Monday. Those seeking assistance with compliance may email MDHHS-Migrant-Affairs@michigan.gov. Additional information, including a Frequently Asked Questions document, is available on the COVID-19 website.

Failure to comply with this order may result in the issuance of a civil monetary penalty.

New NMU numbers released

The latest numbers regarding COVID-19 positive cases at Northern Michigan University as of Monday afternoon, shown on the NMU Safe on Campus dashboard at https://nmu.edu/safe-on-campus/, indicated 13 on-campus students had tested positive, with eight off-campus students and three employees testing positive.

NMU has 150 beds for quarantine and isolation, and as of Monday afternoon, 47 were occupied.