Grand Rapids Business Journal

LANSING — Michigan’s health director on Thursday ordered nursing homes to offer on-site booster shots to residents who are not up to date on the COVID-19 vaccine in a state that lags others in vaccinating people in long-term care facilities.

A community vaccine clinic offering Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines and boosters will be held this Saturday.

The 62-B District Court of Kentwood now is offering an option to provide more convenient access to court services while maintaining public safety during the pandemic.

GRAND HAVEN — Jury trials have been paused in some West Michigan counties due to a surge in coronavirus cases, court officials said Monday.

City Manager Mark Washington earlier this month named Kate Berens as deputy city manager. She will begin her new role Wednesday, March 9.

LANSING — Michigan auditors found nearly 2,400 additional COVID-19 deaths linked to long-term care facilities over an 18-month period, at places that report coronavirus deaths to the state and homes that do not.

The Kent County Health Department (KCHD) is providing free radon test kits for National Radon Action Month. 

The Supreme Court has stopped a major push by the Biden administration to boost the nation’s COVID-19 vaccination rate, a requirement that employees at large businesses get a vaccine or test regularly and wear a mask on the job.

LANSING — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration disputed the methodology and conclusions in a pending report that is expected to say there were nearly 30% more coronavirus-related deaths tied to nursing homes and other long-term care facilities in Michigan than reported by the state health department.

The construction of Kent County Department of Public Works’ (DPW) new $3.5 million administration building is complete.

FLINT — A year after unprecedented charges against a former Michigan governor, the Flint water prosecution of Rick Snyder and eight others is moving slowly, bogged down by disputes over millions of documents and even whether some cases were filed in the proper court.

Gun Lake Casino said it recently donated $4,000 to support the Allegan County Sheriff’s Department K-9 training.

LANSING — Michigan has received an initial, small federal shipment of COVID-19 pills that can be taken at home, state health officials said Friday.

The current head of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation said the bipartisan $1.5 billion Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve (SOAR) package will help secure transformational projects and long-term economic opportunity throughout the state.

(As seen on WZZM TV 13) The pandemic forced people to rethink how they would protect their health and well-being in 2021, and one of the ways they did so was by retreating to the outdoors. 

West Michigan medical labs have been offering opportunities for businesses to implement strategies and have systems in place to protect their employees from the COVID-19 virus and avoid any potential upheavals of normal business operations.

Michigan’s manufacturing and technology executives have a little time left to apply for a virtual, 13-week program to help accelerate their export strategies in 2022.

LANSING — Michigan prison policy fails to consider good behavior and rehabilitation when it comes to parole, some advocates say.

SOUTHFIELD — A medical team from the U.S. Department of Defense is extending its stay at Beaumont Health in southeastern Michigan, which has been overwhelmed with patients sick with COVID-19, especially people who are not vaccinated.

LANSING — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s COVID-19 lab test came back negative Wednesday, a day after her husband, Marc Mallory, tested positive for the coronavirus.

A team of 15 U.S. Air Force clinicians arrived at Mercy Health Muskegon to support local health care workers who continue to grapple with rising COVID-19 rates in Michigan.

LANSING — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was isolating from her husband, Marc Mallory, in their home Tuesday after he tested positive for COVID-19.

Two new board members were appointed at a Jan. 3 Kent County Board of Commissioners meeting.

SOUTHFIELD — The continued rise in coronavirus cases across Michigan and an expected surge following Christmas and the New Year has extended the holiday break for some students.

LANSING — Michigan’s health department, for now, will not mirror new recommendations from U.S. officials reducing isolation restrictions for people infected with the coronavirus from 10 days to five.