LANSING — Michigan Department of Health and Human Services officials have issued an emergency order requiring that employees at two state juvenile justice facilities be tested for COVID-19.

The testing protocol, announced Monday, is intended to protect youth, staff and community members at and around the Bay Pines Center in Escanaba and the Shawono Center in Grayling.

Under the emergency order from MDHHS Director Robert Gordon, facilities must:

≤ Test each staff member as soon as practical and then test all newly hired staff.

≤ Test any employees who are in close contact with someone who has COVID-19 or exhibits symptoms.

≤ In facilities with any positive patient or staff cases within the last 14 days, all staff scheduled to work that week should be tested weekly until no positive cases are identified within the previous 14 days.

≤ Exclude from work any employees who are required to be tested but are not.

The emergency order also requires the juvenile justice facilities to take all necessary precautions to prevent transmission of COVID-19 — which may include requiring any staff suspected of exposure to COVID-19 to be tested outside the facility — and exclude from work staff who have COVID-19 until they have met return-to-work criteria established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The order provides the same testing requirements as the order signed for prisons, veterans’ homes and state-operated psychiatric facilities.

Under a recently signed letter of understanding, union-represented employees of the juvenile justice centers will be provided 80 hours of additional sick leave that can be used after other leave credits have been exhausted due to a positive test or after close -contact quarantine.

This also was offered to correction officers, health care workers and staff at state-operated psychiatric facilities and centers.

“COVID-19 testing to identify positive cases so that state and local health officials can take quick action to limit outbreaks is an important strategy,” Gordon said in the release. “Testing — along with wearing masks, social distancing and frequent hand washing — is especially important in settings such as our juvenile justice facilities where youth and staff come in contact with others.”

More services offered at Ishpeming library

The staff at the Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library is working toward reopening the library’s doors to provide more services to the public this fall.

The library will begin a three-tiered reopening phase starting this week with by-appointment computer use, according to a press release from the library.

Initially, computer time will be available from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Friday.

Appointments can be scheduled from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., and 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday.

Each scheduled period has four slots available with time between each appointment to sanitize the area to prepare for the next batch of appointments, the release states. Patrons entering the building must wear a mask.

All appointments must be scheduled ahead of time by calling 906-486-4381.

“Computer access is such an important part of what we offer to the community,” librarian Kelsey Boldt said in the release. “Patrons will be happy to know that they can check their email, print, apply for jobs, and just use our resources to make their lives easier.”

The by-appointment computer use will be available in addition to the library’s curbside pick-up program.

Limited computer access is the first stage of a slow reopening of the library, the release states.

Stage two expands appointments to all library services and stage three will allow library services for limited hours without an appointment.

“The goal is to move through each stage safely before winter sets in,” library officials said in the release.

No official dates have been set for stages two and three, according to library officials.

Small business training sessions offered

The Michigan Small Business Development Center is offering two small business training sessions “for a pandemic economy” to businesses in Dickinson County.

The first session, which is entitled “Marketing and Pivoting in COVID-19” will be held beginning at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday.

“The webinar will provide you a new perspective on marketing techniques and ideas to pivot your current business to a model fit for the future,” an SBDC press release states.

The second session will begin at noon ET on Wednesday and is entitled “Funding Your Business in a Pandemic.”

Attendees will have the opportunity to learn what opportunities are available to fund a small business amid the COVID-1 pandemic. It will be hosted by SBDC financial expert Daniel Yoder.

Participants can register for the online-only sessions by visiting https://sbdcmichigan.org/

Lisa Bowers can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 242. Her email address is lbowers@miningjournal.net.