LANSING, Mich. — A group of Michigan House Republicans detailed their plan Tuesday on dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. The main component of this plan is Republicans say it will be centered around the conditions in local communities.
"The plan relies on science-based, county-level data to guide decisions to keep people healthy and determine appropriate COVID-19 restrictions," a news release said.
This Republican-led plan is being presented after the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that an emergency powers law that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was using to respond to the pandemic was unconstitutional. The court encouraged the governor to work with the legislature in mitigating the spread of COVID-19.
This plan would give more wiggle room to local health departments to modify policies, from statewide limits on gathering sizes, restaurant capacity and other measures. These would be determined by five metrics:
- Case rate: If the number of confirmed cases over a 14-day period is below 55 cases per 1 million.
- Positivity rate: The rate of positive tests related to community spread over a 14-day period should be below 5%.
- Hospital capacity: Hospitals must be able to handle a 20% surge in admissions or transfers. And they must be below a 25% hospitalization increase over the previous 14 days.
- PPE supply: Local health facilities are required to have a two-week supply of PPE on hand.
- Testing: Counties must be able to test 15 people per 10,000 residents a day.
"If the data indicates a county has risen above these COVID metrics, intervention strategies would immediately go into effect," a news release said.
This plan would need to be approved by the legislature and the governor before it could be implemented.
►Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the 13 ON YOUR SIDE app now.
Have a news tip? Email news@13onyourside.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter. Subscribe to our YouTube channel.
