Michigan Puts On ‘Full Court Press’ To Hit Vaccination Goals

The state of Michigan is instituting what in basketball terms might be a "full-court press" in its attempt to get the state's vaccination level to 70%, acknowledging resistance amongst some adults, thus making further benchmarks more difficult to achieve.

At a Wednesday morning press conference, Governor Gretchen Whitmer and the state's top physician, Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, announced a new initiative to have family doctors sign up to be vaccination providers throughout the state, essentially relying upon the trust and relationship that doctors have with their patients as a way to get the remaining un-vaccinated people vaccinated, thus getting the state to the stated goal of 70%, thus allowing more and more of the state to open up to activities that have been put on hold since the start of the pandemic.

Dr. Khaldun put it bluntly: "I’m asking all parents today to take this virus seriously and take your child to get vaccinated”. This statement comes as the state includes the 12-15 year old age group for vaccine eligibility.

While the overall tone of the announcement Wednesday morning was upbeat, the Detroit News reports that Michigan is still leading the nation in new Covid cases. (190 cases per 100,000 people.) But the optimism stems from numbers showing the number of cases are, indeed, decreasing. essentially in half from the high levels in early April. Also, the News reports the "seven-day average percentage of COVID-19 tests bringing positive results has dropped from 11% to 9%."

With the 55% vaccination level, offices will be reopening on May 24th, and if a 70% level is achieved, restrictions on outdoor gathering and some face mask rules will be eased.

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