MARQUETTE — COVID-19 cases continue to spike in parts of the eastern Upper Peninsula.

The Luce-Mackinac-Alger-Schoolcraft District Health Department reported on Friday that those four counties have a combined total of 134 cases. As of Thursday, the total across those counties is 547, an increase of 308%. The first two deaths from COVID-19 in the district came in October.

The LMAS District Health Department has not identified a specific event, activity or location in the rapid increase in cases. It said some cases involve household members of a person who tested positive. Others test positive while in quarantine due to being a close contact of a case.

Some cases are associated with gatherings, large or small. In other cases, LMAS is unable to identify the source of the infection, which indicates community spread.

Testing, contact tracing and case investigations are time-sensitive, LMAS said, and it asks the community to do the following:

≤ Wear a clean cloth face mask that covers the face and nose;

≤ Maintain at least 6 feet of distance between themselves and people not in their immediate households;

≤ Avoid gatherings with people not in their immediate households;

≤ Stay home if they don’t feel well; and

≤ Wash their hands thoroughly and often.

NMU COVID numbers reported

The most recent cumulative numbers on Northern Michigan University’s Safe on Campus dashboard, found at https://nmu.edu/safe-on-campus/, show that between July 27 and Friday, there have been 174 cumulative COVID-19 positive cases for a 2.31% positivity rate. These include include 65 on-campus students, 94 off-campus students and 15 employees.

There are 83 active positive cases — 32 on-campus students, 44 off-campus students and seven employees.

The latest surveillance testing for Oct. 26-Nov. 2 show 30 positives out of 532 tests for a 5.64% positivity rate.

MDHHS issues workplace recommendations

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has released recommendations for employers on how to keep workplaces safe.

The MDDHS reported the state is currently experiencing 261 cases per million people per day, more than double from last month. Percent positivity has increased to 7.5% from 5.5% a week ago. Hospitalizations, which tend to appear two to four weeks after cases, have been rising over the past five weeks.

As of Friday, there were 28 documented COVID-19 outbreaks in an office setting and the number of new outbreaks reported continue to increase weekly. Office settings make up 5% of all documented outbreaks, and 7% of new outbreaks identified in the last week. Additionally, 8.3% of current outbreaks are in manufacturing and construction, and 33% of those were first identified in the last week.

“Given the available data and concerning increase in COVID-19 cases, employers have a crucial role to play in ensuring employees who must come to work are operating in a safe environment,” said Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, chief medical executive and chief deputy for health, in a statement. “Employers should adopt practices to make workplaces as safe as possible and work should be completed remotely unless it is strictly necessary for an employee to be in person to complete their job duties.”

Consistent with emergency rules enacted by the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity on Oct. 14, if any in-person work is being conducted, employers should be sure to take the following steps to protect the health of their employees:

≤ Develop and implement a written plan to prevent employee exposure to COVID-19, which includes exposure determination and detail the measures the employer will implement to reduce employee exposure;

≤ Identify a workplace COVID-19 coordinator, mandate face coverings, ensure appropriate access to personal protective equipment where necessary and train employees on new procedures, such as how to facilitate physical distancing;

≤ Conduct daily health evaluations that include assessment for the symptoms of COVID-19 and exclude from in-person work any symptomatic staff; and

≤ Clean and disinfect facilities as frequently as possible, and perform enhanced cleaning if a sick employee is suspected or confirmed to have COVID-19.

The MDHHS also said employers should collaborate with local health departments. If employees contract COVID-19, local health departments will conduct contact tracing. Employees should work closely with their local health departments to ensure that all potentially affected employees are made aware of their exposure.

Employers also should allow their employees to work from home, if possible, to minimize the presence of individuals gathered in work settings where COVID-19 may spread. Employers should only permit in-person work if a worker is unable to physically complete required job tasks from a remote setting, such as food service or auto assembly workers, or a job involving protected data that cannot be accessed remotely.

The latest information is available at Michigan.gov/Coronavirus and CDC.gov/Coronavirus.

Food benefits ongoing

Approximately 350,000 Michigan families will continue to have access to additional food assistance benefits during November as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the MDHHS announced on Friday.

Michigan previously approved the additional food assistance for March through June — and now that is being extended in November with approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service.

Eligible clients will see additional food assistance benefits on their Bridge Card by Nov. 30, with payments beginning for some households on Nov. 21. Additional benefits will be loaded onto Bridge Cards as a separate payment from the assistance that is provided earlier in the month.

Households eligible for Food Assistance Program benefits will receive additional benefits in November to bring all current Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program cases to the maximum monthly allowance for that group size. This change only applies to customers not currently receiving the maximum benefit amount.

Eligible families do not need to reapply to receive the additional benefits.

Christie Mastric can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 250. Her email address is cbleck@miningjournal.net