Plans are being made if a Coronavirus outbreak sweeps through the Upper Peninsula. Delta and Schoolcraft County Emergency Management Coordinator Paul Geyer says they are looking at alternative sites if OSF Healthcare St. Francis Hospital overflows with patients infected with COVID-19.
 

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A Delta County woman tested positive Sunday for COVID-19. The Public Health of Delta Menominee Counties says they are attempting to contact people who had contact with her.
A second COVID-19 case has been confirmed in Marquette County. 

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The number of deaths from the Coronavirus is now 92 in Michigan including one in the Western Upper Pensinsula.The Western Upper Peninsula Health Department says the first COVID-19 death in the U.P. was an elderly man in Gogebic County with underlying health issues. And Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said the odds of students returning to school this year are “very unlikely" during a radio interview today in Detroit.

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Delta County Central Dispatch is being flooded with 9-1-1 calls from people who want to report on businesses or others who they believe are violating the governor's stay at home order. 
The calls accelerated yesterday after the attorney general asked the public to contact local law enforcement instead of the state. But Escanaba City Manager Patrick Jordan says 9-1-1 is not necessarily the place to call to report possible violators. Escanaba Public Safety says they have talked with several businesses and organizations that have remained open even though they do not fall under the exceptions of the executive order.

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The Delta Area Transit Authority is one of those that is considered an essensial service in Michigan that is continuing to operate during the stay at home order although DATA Executive Director John Stapleton says few people are riding the buses. Because they have to keep operating, Stapleton says they are starting to help by picking up groceries, medications or take out food from restaurants for people who don't want to venture out.

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Fewer people headed to work today.  A statewide stay-at-home order took effect just after midnight in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19 throughout Michigan.  Warning that a million people could need hospital beds, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says her order for people to stay home will buy time so that hospitals are not overwhelmed.

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The city of Escanaba is staggering the shifts of workers at vital positions in the city in order to keep utilities operating in anticipation of the Coronavirus COVID-19 spreading through the community. 
Escanaba City Manager Patrick Jordan says the goal is to make sure there are healthy workers to keep city services going. Plus, the first presumptive positive COVID-19 case has been confirmed in the Upper Peninsula. The Chippewa County Health Department says it is an adult man with a medical history. He is hospitalized outside of Chippewa County.  

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After a run on area grocery stores as we were entering this coronavirus pandemic, Rod Stende at Elmer's County Market says for the most part shopping  is back to normal. Although toilet paper and cleaning supplies remain in short supply.

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Two more Michigan residents diagnosed with the COVID-19 virus have died. Three Michigan residents who tested positive for the coronavirus died on Wednesday. The two most recent deaths include an 81-year-old patient being treated at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, and a woman in her 50s with underlying health conditions who died in Pontiac. Michigan’s first reported death is a man in his 50s in Wayne County who also had underlying health conditions.
 

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A state of emergency was declared by the Delta County Board of Commissioners last night in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Emergency Managemennt Coordinator Paul Geyer says the county would be eligible for state and federal aid to fund the county's COVID-19 response.

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OTHER STORIES IN NEWSCAST

At OSF Healthcare St Francis Hospital & Medical Group, Lacey Crabb, Chief Nursing Officer and Vice President of Patient Care, says visitors and patients must be screened before being allowed to enter the building.

Seven people have been tested so far in Delta County for the Coronavirus. Mike Snyder, health officer at Public Health for Delta and Menominee Counties, says one test has come back negative.

There are now 65 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Michigan. All are downstate. 

 An additional $125 million was approved by state lawmakers yesterday in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Chef Robin Holmes at Pacino's Restaurant in Escanaba was trying yesterday to make sense of how the Governor's executive order to restrict restaurants will affect them. They were not equipped to handle pickup or provide delivery serivce. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued a sweeping Executive Order yesterday to temporarily restrict resturants and close bars, clubs, movie theaters, fitness centers, and other businesses to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. 

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Bars and restaurants in Michigan closed at 3 p.m. today. So did a whole list of other businesses in response to the spreadof the Coronavirus. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an Executive Order to temporarily close bars, coffeehouses and clubs, and limits restaurants to carry-out and delivery orders. Restaurants may allow five people inside at a time to pick up orders, so long as they stay six feet apart from each other.  The order continues through March 30.

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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is ordering the closure of all K-12 school buildings to students starting Monday through Sunday, April 5, as the number of coronavirus cases in Michigan climbs to 12. Late Thursday night, Whitmer said it is a necessary step.

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The Escanaba Harbor Advisory Committee reaffirmed its slip rate structure recommendation at last night's special meeting on a 3 to 1 vote. The special meeting was called after the Escanaba City Council last week recinded its decision to approve the rate structure it set in February.
 

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Millage 911 and Central Dispatch proposals in Menominee and Dickinson Counties were overwhemingly approved yesterday, 68 to 32 percent in Menominee County and 66 to 43 percent in Dickinson County. Menominee County was asking for point-625 mills for five years to provide a countywide 911 system and Dickinson Couinty was asking for point-4 mills for three years to fund and equip an enhanced 911 system.

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Two people from Escanaba were aboard the cruise ship with 21 confirmed cases of coronavirus that docked yesterday at the Port of Oakland. Don Curran says he feels fine and is not aware if he had contact with anyone with the virus.
 

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The city of Escanaba is moving quickly after council members last Thursday recinded recently approved slip fees for boaters at the Escanaba Harbor. Escanaba City manager Patrick Jordan says a special meeting of the Harbor Advisory Committee has been called for Wednesday after Tuesday's regular meeting was previously cancelled.
 

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The Escanaba City Council is considering a five year sidewalk plan that would require every property in the city to have a sidewalk. The goal is to make Escanaba a more walkable city. The plan would begin in 2022. Stephen Davis is on the Escanaba City Planning Commission which is recommending the plan. He told the Escanaba City Council last night that the sidewalk plan would cost the city nothing. 

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The tatics of law enforcement within the Department of Natural Resources will be discussed in a Senate committee tomorrow. The Senate Natural Resources Committee will hear from DNR officials and residents of the Upper Peninsula on how conservation officers interact with the public. State Senator Ed McBroom of Vulcan chairs the committee. He says it is not necessarily meant to antagonisitc to the DNR.

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The tatics of law enforcement within the Department of Natural Resources will be discussed in a Senate committee tomorrow. The Senate Natural Resources Committee will hear from DNR officials and residents of the Upper Peninsula on how conservation officers interact with the public. State Senator Ed McBroom of Vulcan chairs the committee. He says it is not necessarily meant to antagonisitc to the DNR.

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Enrollment at Bay College is 11 percent higher than expected. Bay President Laura Coleman says the numbers are up because of the number of students who are participating in the early middle college programs at Delta Schoolcraft Intermediate School District.

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