MARQUETTE — The Marquette County Health Department announced the return to a 10-day quarantine COVID-19 period, down from 14 days, effective immediately.

Adhering to quarantine requirements is needed when protecting the public’s health, the health department said in a news release. However, it acknowledged a 14-day quarantine can impose personal burdens that might affect people physically and mentally as well as cause economic hardship that might reduce compliance.

“Implementing quarantines can also pose additional burdens on public health systems and communities, especially during periods when new infections, and consequently the number of contacts needing to quarantine, are rapidly rising,” the MCHD said.

It also indicated the prospect of quarantine might dissuade recently diagnosed individuals from naming contacts and could dissuade contacts from responding to contact tracer outreach if they believe the length of quarantine is onerous.

The MCHD indicated that the risk of transmission of COVID-19 because of a shortened quarantine period is difficult to quantify. Residual post-quarantine transmission risk without COVID testing has a median of 1.4% after 10 days and 0.1% after 14 days.

The rate of infectivity also is hard to accurately determine, it said, but depends on the duration and intensity of exposure as well as the presence or absence of mitigation measures such as masking and hand hygiene. Range estimates are: work contact with masks, 1 to 5%; athletes, 25%; and household contacts such as children at 5%, adults at 15% and sleep partners at 50%.

The MCHD issued these recommendations regarding who needs to be quarantined:

≤ People who have tested positive for COVID-19 within the past three months and recovered do not have to quarantine or get tested again as long as they do not develop new symptoms.

≤ People who develop symptoms again within three months of their first bout of COVID-19 may need to be tested again if there is no other cause identified for their symptoms, or they may need to quarantine.

≤ People who have been in close contact with someone who has had COVID-19 are not required to quarantine if they have been fully vaccinated against the disease and show no symptoms.

NMU ‘on track’ for return to normal

Northern Michigan University President Fritz Erickson held a virtual forum on Wednesday to provide a COVID-19 update and confirm that NMU is “still on track” for a return to normal operations in the fall.

The university issued a news release with details on the forum.

Erickson praised the campus community for effectively adapting to the pandemic by continuing to deliver instruction and services at the highest level possible. He also thanked faculty, staff and students for following safety protocols that have kept active cases relatively low.

Even with the recent statewide spike, NMU’s real-time dashboard showed that there were 25 active cases as of Wednesday, accounting for 0.38% of the total NMU community.

“It’s been a long haul and the end of the semester is a stressful time,” Erickson said in the forum. “But I’m hoping everyone can just hang in there a little longer until the end so we can celebrate.”

A voluntary campus survey to gauge vaccinations generated about 2,000 responses. Of those, 80% were either fully vaccinated, partway through the process or had scheduled their first appointments.

Erickson said he is concerned about the 20% who responded negatively and hoped that would decrease in advance of the fall semester.

“As of right now, we don’t have a plan to require vaccines,” he said in response to a question. “Frankly, that’s subject to change. If a mandate comes down from the state, we’ll obviously follow that. But there are all kinds of ramifications in requiring vaccines. We haven’t gotten to that point yet, but we’re looking at it carefully.

“I really appreciate that we generally don’t have a one-size-fits-all approach for the state’s 15 public universities. Each is different.”

Erickson said NMU will also closely monitor the potential impacts of the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s recent decision to extend COVID-19 restrictions on offices for another six months. He expressed optimism that, with more people being vaccinated, MiOSHA might lift that restriction.

NMU will begin a phased-in reopening June 15 and be fully open by Aug. 1. Erickson described those as “target dates” and said the university will remain flexible.

Erickson said he’s asking every academic and service department head to develop a safety plan for the summer.

“Those plans should keep offices open and fully serve students, while at the same time following recommendations that come out of MIOSHA and other places,” he said. “There’s not one way to approach this. It’s going to be different in terms of what works best for each area.”

Proposed room and board rates for the next academic year will be presented to the NMU Board of Trustees during its April 29-30 meeting. Erickson said tuition will not be determined until later, after state House and Senate budget proposals are released and there is a reconciliation process.

State increasing use of therapy

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services announced on Wednesday that the state is working to expand the use of a medical intervention designed to significantly reduce hospitalizations and deaths due to COVID-19.

The intervention involves additional doses of monoclonal antibodies being made available to providers and requests to providers to expand the number of infusion sites in the state.

Monoclonal antibodies, or mAb, are laboratory-produced molecules that can restore, enhance or mimic the immune system’s attack on cells, according to the governor’s office. mAb targets different parts of the virus and prevents it from bonding with cells in the body, effectively neutralizing it.

Clinical trials have shown promising data that this therapy works for the treatment of COVID-19 in patients who are at high risk for progressing to severe symptoms and/or hospitalization, including older people.

To date, preliminary data suggests more than 6,600 Michiganders have received this treatment with 65% reporting feeling better with two days of treatment and less than 5% of them requiring hospitalization following treatment.

The federal government has made therapeutic treatments free for all Americans who are eligible, Whitmer said in a Wednesday news conference.

“There are currently still some administrative costs if you get this treatment, but we are working with the federal government and health care providers to get these costs waived,” she said.

However, Whitmer stressed vaccinations still are crucial.

“Therapeutics are another tool, but they are not a substitute for vaccination,” Whitmer said. “These treatments for folks with underlying health conditions who have COVID can help them avoid hospitalization and stop the spread temporarily.”

She also noted that Michiganders who receive therapeutics treatment are eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccines 90 days after administration.

Variant detected in Dickinson County

The Dickinson-Iron District Health Department announced it was notified Tuesday night that genetic testing has confirmed a positive case within Dickinson County of the B1.351 variant of the virus that causes COVID-19.

The variant, commonly referred to as the South African variant, is concerning because it is associated with increased transmissibility, the department said.

“This is our second variant identified in our community within the last two weeks,” said Ruth Manier, director of Community Health Services, in a news release. “Our concerns are for the health, safety and well-being of our community. We are noticing that cases being identified are in a younger population.

“It is important to remember that we do not understand what the long-term consequences may be of experiencing an infection.”