Covid kills teen's dad and grandma a week apart, I-75 closures start today, weekend temperatures will hit 50
FRIDAY NEWS HIT - Trouble for Mya Nash and her family started with her grandmother. Lula Davis had fallen ill and called for an ambulance.
A short while later, Davis asked emergency crews to check on her son Keith, who she hadn't heard from. They found him unresponsive in his apartment.
Both had been infected by COVID-19. By mid-February, they had both died - leaving Nash, only a teenager, to organize her dad's funeral and help her younger sibling.
"It's been a lot to wrap my head around, I've really tried to figure this out," she said.
Nash's brother Micah Hudson remembers the chicken crossing the road jokes that his family used to make. "We liked to joke about all kinds of things when I was younger. We always just laughed together."
Keith had played semi-professional football and loved to fish.
"He was a goofball, he could smile and you couldn't help but smile too," said Nash. "He would laugh and his laugh filled the room."
Both parties lived on the same floor of the Center Line Park Towers, a condominium complex in Center Line. Emergency responders first came to the location on Jan. 9 when they rushed Lula and Keith to an area hospital. Both tested positive for COVID-19 immediately.
Keith was put on a ventilator immediately after losing all breathing ability.
Lula eventually died Feb. 2. Her son followed nine days later.
"At first I cried a lot but I'm still going through the shock," said Hudson.
Now Nash, only 18 years old, is left to manage the fallout of a family without a father, a grandmother while caring for her brother.
Even before the public health tragedy swept through her family, she was always motivated to help people who were sick or unhealthy.
Now a recent graduate of high school, she's decided to train to be an EMT. After her dad and grandmother's passing, it feels more like a calling than a job.
"Every person who has been sick or unhealthy in my lifetime, I have always wanted to nurture them, take care of them," she said.
But even recent grads with big dreams need help and Nash now must face the financial burden of burying her dad. If you'd like to help, learn more at the family's gofundme here.
'No closure' for survivors of John Geddert
The only news more surprising than the long list of egregious charges leveled against the former coach of U.S. gymnastics was the confirmation he had died by suicide the same day.
John Geddert was charged with 24 felonies before he shot himself in a public rest stop in Clinton County. While his suicide shocked victims of his abuse, it isn't bringing them closure.
"Honestly, no closure for me at all," said Makayla Thrush, who was coached by Geddert for 10 years. "If you're not guilty, personally, I would have fought it. That's anybody's general reaction. I don't know why he chose that route. Was he guilty or was he not guilty? Personally, he was guilty."
Only one of the charges announced by Dana Nessel tied Geddert to Nasser. With the other 23 linking the former coach to other crimes, it's likely not the last news audiences will read about his alleged crimes.
Community rallies around mother wrongfully evicted
December and February will feel like two completely different realities for Whitney Burney and her four kids. Just before Christmas, she was kicked out of her Detroit apartment after her landlord lied about her squatting in the unit and Detroit police assisted with removal.
But this week, she's raised enough money for a year's worth of rent and the city will pay for another three months. Her kids received free laptops, her lost possessions will be reimbursed. And her new home was furnished by a nonprofit.
"This is a blessing, we are doing much better," Burney said. "I have a job now, I have a car now."
The fallout from the wrongful eviction is still sending waves through Detroit police who have admitted wrongdoing. They have retrained officers and don't intend to get involved in civil evictions.
COVID-19 outbreak at Detroit Whole Foods
Even with every precaution in place and encouraging metrics moving Michigan in the right direction, infection is still possible. At a Detroit Whole Foods, it's spreading fast.
About 23 of the grocer's 196 employees have tested positive for COVID-19. While no workers testing positive will be allowed in the building, the bigger concern is the asymptomatic spread that's still moving through the building.
"This is a reminder to all grocery stores of the availability of vaccinations and the importance of getting their employees vaccinated to make sure this does not happen again," said Detroit Health Chief Denise Fair.
A spokesperson for Whole Foods said they are requiring all employees at the Midtown Detroit location to test negative for the virus before returning to work. "We are partnering with the City of Detroit to make COVID-19 vaccines available as soon as possible to Team Members at no cost to them."
What we're watching
- Andiamo Dearborn is closing its doors after 17 years in business. The restaurant's owner said it was a casualty of COVID-19 closures that made it impossible to stay open.
- Aretha Franklin's family has posted a video of multiple kids giving the I Had A Dream speech in different languages. Watch it online here.
- The Roberson's Fun Center is hosting a small Black business expo today and tomorrow to support commerce in the community. Learn more here.
- As a reminder, I-75 construction will begin again this weekend, beginning with two bridge demolitions that will force the highway to close all lanes.
- The arrival of another vaccine is in sight. Henry Ford Health Systems will be discussing the Johnson and Johnson variant rollout Friday.
Live on FOX 2
Daily Forecast
We're back over 40 degrees today and it'll be accompanied by a cloudless sky before rain falls tomorrow. The real warm weather arrives Saturday and Sunday when temperatures hit 50 degrees.
Monarch butterflies typically found in winter resting grounds in Mexico declined by 26%
The number of monarch butterflies that showed up at their winter resting grounds in central Mexico decreased by about 26% this year, and four times as many trees were lost to illegal logging, drought and other causes, making 2020 a bad year for the butterflies.
The government commission for natural protected areas said the butterflies’ population covered only 2.1 hectares (5.2 acres) in 2020, compared to 2.8 hectares (6.9 acres) the previous year and about one-third of the 6.05 hectares (14.95 acres) detected in 2018.
Because the monarchs cluster so densely in pine and fir trees, it is easier to count them by area rather than by individuals.
Gloria Tavera, the regional director of Mexico's Commission for National Protected Areas, blamed the drop on "extreme climate conditions," the loss of milkweed habitat in the United States and Canada on which butterflies depend, and deforestation in the butterflies' wintering grounds in Mexico.