MARQUETTE — The discovery of the B.1.1.7 COVID-19 variant has led to the Marquette County Health Department providing public health mitigation measures to minimize the impact.

The variant was detected by the MCHD’s ongoing surveillance program that looks for variants of concern in the community. It said the B.1.1.7 variant is about 50% more transmissible, leading to faster spread of the virus and potentially increasing case numbers, hospitalizations and deaths.

The health department indicated this case and another closely related one do not have any known contacts or epidemiological links to B.1.1.7 and no travel outside the Upper Peninsula. However, travel outside of Marquette County to Delta County did occur.

The mitigation measures listed by the MCHD are:

• For providers and laboratories, increased surveillance for more cases of the variant by sending all positive molecular tests for whole genomic sequencing for the next one to two weeks is needed.

• For those testing positive, the MCHD’s contact tracers need to know close contacts, without which its response to control the variant’s spread markedly decreases.

• People in the community are asked to stay home if sick and get tested for COVID-19 even if their symptoms go away after one or two days. The MCHD said that too often, it heard it was “just a cold” or “I thought it was my allergies.”

• Employers should not allow ill people or individuals who were recently ill to return to work within 10 days of the illness with COVID-19 compatible symptoms without being cleared by a medical provider or being tested for COVID.

• Friends and family should support the current mitigating efforts of their public health department.

The public health COVID-19 team, when evaluating COVID cases or contacts with possible epidemiological links to confirmed variant cases, should assume there is a variant infection. It is also to strictly enforce and ensure the entire 14-day quarantine period with monitoring, regardless of symptoms, of any close contacts of the possible variant infections. For others, it allows a 10-day quarantine period without monitoring.

The team is also recommending COVID testing of contacts around the fifth day of their quarantine period, and those ill with COVID-like symptoms.

The MCHD said that fundamentally, the situation is a “race that pits vaccination efforts against infection transmission.” It noted that the B.1.1.7 variant offers the infection a speed boost in the race, which must be accounted for in the public health response.

People are urged to register for COVID-19 vaccines through the link provided at www.mqthealth.org.

State updates residential order

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has updated its Residential Care Facilities Order to reflect recent changes in Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services guidance for visitation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The state of Michigan recently rolled out an expanded visitation program, using a testing protocol to keep residents and staff safe. The updated order and accompanying guidance continues to support visitation and improve quality of life for seniors while maintaining precautions to help keep residents and staff safe.

Testing is strongly encouraged prior to visitation, the MDHHS said, particularly in counties with medium or high positivity, but not required. The order goes into effect immediately.

“Throughout the pandemic we have focused on protecting vulnerable long-term care residents from COVID-19, which has required physical separation from family and other loved ones,” said Elizabeth Hertel, MDHHS director, in a statement. “The new CMS guidance provides reasonable ways these facilities can safely facilitate in-person visitation to address the needs of residents. “

The order continues to require facilities to:

• make efforts to allow safe communal dining and group activities for residents;

• nform employees and residents of the presence of a confirmed COVID-19 positive employee or resident as soon as reasonably possible, but no later than 12 hours after identification;

• inform legal guardians or health care proxies for all residents and post a visible notice in the facility no later than 24 hours after identification of a confirmed COVID-19 positive employee or resident; and

• report to MDHHS and the applicable local health department all presumed positive COVID-19 cases in the facility together with any additional data when required under MDHHS guidance.

“While we are still very much fighting this pandemic and seeing some concerning trends in new cases and hospitalizations, these new changes align with CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidance and support families being able to visit their loved ones in nursing facilities,” said Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, chief medical executive and chief deputy for health, in a statement. “We continue to monitor the data closely and urge Michiganders to continue doing what works to slow the spread of the disease by wearing a mask, washing their hands, avoiding crowds and making a plan to get the safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine when it is their turn.”

CMS guidance says facilities should accommodate and support indoor and outdoor visitation as long as the facility has not had a new COVID-19 case in the last 14 days, according to the MDHHS. Visitors will be required to wear face masks or other personal protective equipment when required by the facility at all times. Visitors generally will need to maintain 6 feet from residents.

The new MDHHS Residential Care Facilities Visitation Guidance covers nursing homes, homes for the aged, adult foster care facilities, hospice, and substance use disorder/residential and assisted living facilities.

Hospital scams reported

UP Health System-Marquette has been made aware of a “caller ID spoofing” scam that is inappropriately using the hospital’s name.

This type of scam, it said, involves a third party making it appear as though a call is coming from a particular entity, in this case, UPHS. It has been reported that these calls are “trying to collect money” or “your personal information” for fraudulent purposes.

UPHS said that while it is working with the appropriate groups to end the practice, these scams are difficult to trace and unwind. In the meantime, it recommends people remember a few facts:

• Most reputable organizations will not call you at inappropriate hours. UP Health System-Marquette will never place calls to patients before 8 a.m. or after 6 p.m., or anytime that the patient says is inconvenient to receive calls.

• No one from UPHS will call and request personal information related to credit scores over the phone, nor would try to sell products such as durable medical equipment or insurance plans.

• Bill collection scams can also be conducted through email or text messages. UP Health System-Marquette will never ask for any personal information via email or text message.

An individual who receives a call, email or text message from someone claiming to be with UPHS-Marquette or any organization that seems suspicious is urged to hang up and call back the appropriate department of that organization to ensure the caller’s identity is valid.

A valid caller should be able to verify their identity, it said, and consumers have the right to ask clarifying questions to keep their identities safe, UPHS said.

Antibody treatments used

Aspirus Health announced that on March 10 it treated its 300th patient with an experimental COVID-19 antibody treatment, which it said is an infusion therapy using a drug called Bamlanivimab.

The therapy is intended for people with COVID-19 at a higher risk for hospitalization or developing more severe symptoms.

Aspirus’ results show that only 4% of those who received the treatment later required admission to the hospital. This means that at least 48 additional hospitalizations were prevented based on the 17-20% hospitalization rate expected for this population, it said.

“We’ve seen throughout the pandemic that people with chronic health conditions are more susceptible to developing complications from COVID-19 that often require hospitalization,” said Johonna Asquith, M.D., an infectious disease specialist with Aspirus, in a news release. “This treatment has been extremely effective in helping people manage their symptoms, deliver positive outcomes and even save lives.”

Aspirus began offering COVID-19 antibody treatment in November at Aspirus Wausau Hospital in Wisconsin. It has since expanded to make the therapy available at its hospitals in the Upper Peninsula as well as Wisconsin Rapids and Portage, both in Wisconsin.

People who have tested positive for COVID-19 must meet specific criteria to be eligible for antibody therapy, Aspirus said. Eligible people include those ages 65 and older, considered obese or who have a chronic disease such as diabetes, kidney, lung or heart disease; hypertension; or any immunosuppressive disease.

Aspirus said it identifies patients appropriate for treatment and encourages anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 to talk to their primary care provider if they believe they meet the criteria.

Food assistance available

Approximately 350,000 Michigan families will continue to have access to additional food assistance benefits this month as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the MDHHS said.

Michigan previously approved the additional food assistance beginning in March 2020. That is being extended for this month with approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service.

“Michigan has been a national leader in making sure families can put food on the table during COVID, and we must continue to ensure that no Michigander goes hungry during this challenging time,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in a statement.

Eligible clients will see additional food assistance benefits on their Bridge Card from Saturday to March 30. Additional benefits will be loaded onto Bridge Cards as a separate payment from the assistance that is provided earlier in the month.

Nearly 1.3 million people in Michigan receive federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits through the state’s Food Assistance Program.

Households eligible for Food Assistance Program benefits will receive additional benefits this month to bring all current SNAP cases to the maximum monthly allowance for that group size. This change only applies to customers not currently receiving the maximum benefit amount.

The maximum allowable benefits for SNAP customers based on their respective household size: one person, $234; two people, $430; three people, $616; four peoples, $782; five people, $929; six people, $1,114; seven people, $1,232; and eight people, $1,408.

The federal government is providing additional funding to states for food assistance under House Resolution 6201, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.

Eligible families do not need to reapply to receive the additional benefits. People who receive food assistance can check their benefits balance on their Michigan Bridge Card by visiting www.michigan.gov/MIBridges or calling a consumer service representative toll-free at 888-678-8914. They can ask questions about the additional benefits by calling or emailing their caseworker.

Grant payments set

Whitmer on Thursday announced that more than 55,900 individuals who work in entertainment, recreational and indoor food-service venues will begin receiving grant payments of $793.

Applications were processed through the Michigan Restaurant and Lodging Association Educational Foundation.

The grants are part of the Employee Assistance Grants program, which was created through a $45 million bipartisan budget appropriation signed by Whitmer in late 2020.

Individuals whose employment was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic were eligible to apply for the grants in January.

Applicants must have been Michigan residents and demonstrated proof of employment in one of a number of industries — including restaurants, hotels and theaters — on Nov. 18 when the MDHHS pandemic orders took effect, and proved being negatively impacted financially because of furlough, layoff, job loss or a reduction in hours worked.