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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declared a
state of disaster Wednesday night and
signed an executive order expanding
Michigan’s
COVID-19
response.
Whitmer previously declared a state
of emergency on March 10 in hopes of
helping local governments slow the
spread of COVID-19 and persuading
Michiganders to take preventative
measures.
In a press release Wednesday,
Whitmer said the state of disaster
order would allow for a more
effective response and hopes it
will help reduce the impact of the
coronavirus in Michigan.
“Today’s action will allow my
administration
to
respond
more
effectively to every facet of this
crisis,” Whitmer said. “During this
time, it’s crucial that Michiganders
continue to stay home and keep their
distance from others. We will get
through this together.”
As of Wednesday, Michigan had
7,630 recorded cases of COVID-19
and 264 deaths, as Wayne County
has quickly become an epicenter of
the disease. Michigan has the fourth
most cases of any state, behind New
York, New Jersey and California.
Washtenaw County had reported 400
cases of COVID-19 and eight deaths.
In the press release, Joneigh
Khaldun, chief deputy for health and
chief medical executive of Michigan
Department of Health and Human
Services, explained she believed the
executive order will help protect
Michiganders and hopes it will slow
the spread of COVID-19.
“The
number
of
confirmed
COVID-19 cases in Michigan is still
climbing, and we must continue to
do everything we can to slow the
spread,” Khaldun said. “The governor
has taken a number of critical steps to
protect Michigan families, and this
order today will allow that work to
continue. I will keep working closely
with the governor and our partners
across state government to mitigate
the spread of COVID-19.”
Whitmer has previously ordered
non-essential businesses to close and
directed all Michiganders to stay in
their homes with few exceptions.
The Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention recommends people
wash their hands often and avoid
touching their faces. Anyone who
believes they have been exposed to
COVID-19 should call their primary
care physician or reach out to the
local health department, which in
Washtenaw County can be reached at
734-544-6700.
Daily Staff Reporter Emma Ruberg
can be reached at eruberg@umich.
edu.
EMMA RUBERG
Daily Staff Reporter
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DOMINICK SOKOTOFF/Daily
The Michigan Theater temporarily closes due to the COVID-19 pandemic and encouragement for all residents to stay home in Ann Arbor.
Whitmer declares state of
disaster as death count rises
Governor takes action to expand Michigan’s efforts to combat
spread of COVID-19 as global pandemic takes its toll on residents
2 — Thursday, April 2, 2020
“They were the people who did the
screening with me, going over all my
symptoms, and they asked me about more
symptoms than just the basic three.”
Clarke said she had to strongly advocate
for testing because she did not necessarily
meet the typical requirements of fever,
dry cough and shortness of breath.
“A lot of places, because of the limited
supply of testing, are only testing people
who really meet the criteria, so I made it
really clear that one, I work on RICU so
I know I’m working with people that are
positive and there’s the risk of exposure,”
Clarke said. “But two, even though I
didn’t have a fever on reading, I had other
symptoms of fever-like sweats and chills.
I feel like I really had to advocate strongly
for myself, I don’t meet the obvious
criteria, but I recognize changes in myself
that I think are similar.”
Clarke said she had heard about
her coworkers experiencing similar
symptoms and being denied testing.
“I don’t know if it’s the luck of who you
talk to or how strongly you advocate for
yourself or if they called a week before I
did when those symptoms weren’t being
considered, but now they are,” Clarke
said. “ … I just know that I really tried
to make a strong case for getting myself
tested.”
Another registered nurse interviewed
for this article has requested to remain
anonymous for fear of jeopardizing their
job at Michigan Medicine.
The registered nurse, who works
in an Intensive Care Unit at Michigan
Medicine’s main hospital, will be referred
to as Nurse 1. They said they were exposed
to a patient with COVID-19.
“We had a surgical patient that had
been on our floor for a couple days,
we were trying to figure out why we
couldn’t get him extubated and off of
the ventilator,” Nurse 1 said. “I was in
there working with him without a mask
because at that point he was just a typical
surgical patient.”
When it was determined that the
patient had COVID-19, health care
professionals considered to be at risk
were notified immediately that they had
likely been exposed to the virus. These
“exposures” include staff present in the
room when certain procedures were
performed on COVID-19 patients while
not wearing proper equipment, such as
adequate masks and eye protection.
“I came back to work two nights later,
he had been reintubated, swabbed for
corona and was not doing well,” Nurse
1 said. “By Saturday, I woke up after my
shift and I had gotten these emails from
my boss … missed calls all saying ‘The
patient came back positive. Because you
were taking care of him on these days
when he wasn’t on droplet precautions
and he was extubated, it’s considered to
be a high-risk exposure.’”
The email from Infection Prevention
and Epidemiology, sent out to employees
considered to be high risk, notified nurses
and other health care professionals that
they may have been exposed to the virus.
The email detailed exposure criteria and
noted that an employee determined to
have a high-risk exposure to the virus
will be restricted from coming into work
for 14 days.
NURSES
From Page 1
See NURSES, Page 3