Advocacy News – May 4, 2021
Are you counted among Michigan’s vaccination numbers? If you were vaccinated in another state you may not be.
Given that Governor Whitmer last week moved to tie Michigan’s vaccination rates to the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, it’s important that every vaccine gets counted. If you were vaccinated in another state it’s important to contact your primary care physician’s office to make sure that your vaccine information gets properly recorded in the Michigan Care Improvement Registry (MCIR, the Michigan system for recording vaccine information).
Whitmer’s “Michigan Vaccine to Normal Plan,” announced on April 29, provides a four-step plan for easing restrictions based on vaccine rates:
- Step One: two weeks after 4.5 million Michiganders, or 55% of those eligible, have received their first shot, MDHHS will lift the requirement for employers to require remote work when feasible.
- Step Two: two weeks after 4.9 million Michiganders, or 60% of those eligible, have received their first shot MDHHS will:
Increase indoor capacity at sports stadiums, conference centers, banquet halls and funeral homes to 25%.
Increase capacity limits at gyms to 50%.
Lift the curfew on bars and restaurants. - Step Three: two weeks after 5.3 million Michiganders, or 65% of those eligible, have received their first shot MDHHS will:
Lift all indoor capacity limits, only requiring social distancing between parties.
Relax the limits on residential social gatherings. - Step Four: two weeks after 5.67 million Michiganders, or 70% of those eligible, have received their first shot MDHHS will:
Lift the gatherings and face masks order and no longer impose mitigation measures of that kind unless the virus threatens to overwhelm the medical system or some other unanticipated circumstance arises.
As of May 3, just over 50 percent of Michiganders, or approximately 4.1 million people, have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. The Governor said at her press conference last week that, if the state keeps its current vaccination rate, it could achieve the 55 percent threshold for step on by the end of May, meaning at that time the remote work requirement could be lifted.
Projections suggest it is possible that the state could achieve the 60 percent threshold in June, but it is questionable whether the state can realistically attain the 65 and 70 percent thresholds any time soon, which calls into question when Michigan’s COVID restrictions will be relaxed or rescinded. The Chamber will continue to monitor positivity, death and vaccination rates closely and advocate for the reconsideration of the metrics outlined in the “Vacc to Normal” plan and a move towards further loosening and recission of the restrictions.
Please contact us at info@michamber.com if you have any questions.