Whitmer to address Michigan's race to vaccinate amid 3rd surge, Detroit police upset with suspect's release
FRIDAY NEWS HIT - Gov. Gretchen Whitmer will be holding a press conference Friday morning a day after she spoke at the unveiling of the new Ford Field vaccine clinic that will begin administering patients next week.
She'll be speaking alongside her Chief Medical Officer Dr. Joneigh Khaldun. FOX 2 will stream the press conference on-site and on Facebook.
There are twin trends in Michigan's public health sphere and depending on how fast they move up or down will determine what kind of spring residents are going to have.
More than 25% of the state has gotten at least one vaccine shot, including 60% of elderly residents. The state is pretty confident about its prospects of reopening the state by the Fourth of July. It's loosened rules on almost every industry and plans to open vaccine eligibility up to everyone by early April.
But this good news is underscored by a new sense of urgency gripping the state - its COVID-19 infections are rising fast. The state's epidemiologist likened the current increase in cases to that of October's surge.
Michigan's already been through two surges with COVID-19. The first one required a near-lockdown of all services because so little was known about how to mitigate exposure. The second surge also required drastic measures, but with more safety precautions involved.
Now, Michigan is at the precipice of another spike in cases, an indicator of just how short a state's honeymoon for progress can be against COVID-19. At least 10 other states are seeing similar trends, although most aren't in the Midwest.
Sarah Lyon-Callo, the director of the MDHHS Bureau of Epidemiology and state epidemiologist, said an increase in outbreaks associated with high schools and the spread of the newly contagious B.1.1.7 variant are partly to blame. Other outbreaks are being reported in nursing homes and manufacturing centers.
The positive test rate has climbed to 5.1% while the cases per million have doubled.
Deaths are still declining, but as health experts understand - that's a lagging indicator and may rise in the coming weeks. A 12% increase in hospital bed usage dedicated to COVID-19 patients and a 45% increase from the February low may be as good a sign as any that they will.
How media can change its drug abuse coverage
Bree Rowe is a mother of four who is in recovery from a substance use disorder she kicked seven years ago. "I was a heroin addict. I struggled with substance abuse disorder for five or six years before having my children."
But those problems don't just go away when you have kids, Rowe said. There's always more work to be done. But every time a news story comes up about recovery, photos and video show generic shots of needles and pills. They make it difficult for people who are recovering and dehumanize those that struggle with it.
"The media will cover positive stories about substance abuse disorder, about these great programs we are doing with Families Against Narcotics and then they’ll cut to a needle and a spoon or a needle going into an arm or pills slowly falling out of a pill bottle," said David Clayton, of FAN.
Clayton is on a mission to change how the media portrays stories of recovery. It'll be key to ending the stigma of addiction and helping those struggling to overcome it.
Detroit police upset about suspects release
Detroit police are displeased with the court system after a judge released two men on personal bond after they pointed firearms at officers and led them on a high-speed chase.
"These guys are dangerous, and I’ll tell you what, these guys are not going to show up to court," Cpl. Jason Tonti with Detroit police.
The suspects, Joshua McCormick and Terrence Jordan destroyed a scout car and pointed guns in the direction of police multiple times before speeding off. Even the police chief James Craig was upset by the move by the court.
However, a defense attorney for Jordon pushed back on the comments and was specifically upset the chief commented on a case before a preliminary examination had been conducted. "I guess the police chief thinks that anybody just charged with a crime should all be locked up."
36th District Court Chief Judge William McConico released a statement on Sherman’s behalf that reads in part: "The magistrate objectively weighed the factors the court must consider when determining bond, such as prior criminal record, risk of flight, history of dangerousness, ties to the community, etc. The defense convincingly presented information confirming the defendants’ ties to the community, multiple stable jobs, and a lack of prior criminal contacts. There was no information given that indicated that either defendant presented a flight or safety risk."
Henry Ford using $750,000 grant to increase minority representation in cancer trials
Historically, communities of color have been left out of the conversation and were underrepresented in scientific case studies. Sometimes, it got even worse as many recall the unethical Tuskegee Syphilis study on African Americans in the 1930s without their consent.
"Only about 2-5% of African American patients actually participate in cancer clinical trials," said Dr.Eleanor Walker, the director of Breast Radiation Oncology and medical director of Integrative Services at Henry Ford Hospital.
The Henry Ford Cancer Institute is working to increase minority representation in its cancer clinical trials thanks to a $750,000 grant. "We’re working in conjunction with the University of Michigan, together to actually work with our community health workers, our church groups," Walker said.
Walker said they want to talk to patients and find out what is important to them.
What else we're watching
- The Simpsons are about to air their 700th episode this Sunday when they look back on a Christmas past.
- Metro Detroit business owners are holding a press conference to unveil a new alliance and partnership between stakeholders. It'll be called the MDBBA
- More I-75 closures this week - this time at Big Beaver Road, which was shut down under the freeway as road crews work to open a new diverging diamond interchange. It'll reopen Monday at 6 a.m.
- The Pope Francis Center will continue offering homeless people in Detroit food, medical services, and shelter through June 1 a the TCF Center. The nonprofit has been active since last year during the worst of the pandemic.
- It may not feel like it, but this weekend is the last couple days of winter. The official start of spring will start next Monday.
Live on FOX 2
Daily Forecast
Temperatures did not start out kindly on Friday, dipping below freezing for half of the morning. They'll get up to 49 degrees amid a cloudless sky for the day. It'll get even warmer over the weekend.
Atlanta spa shootings exposes inequities around race, gender and sex
Seven of the eight people killed were women; six were of Asian descent. The suspect, according to police, appeared to blame his actions on a "sex addiction."
While the U.S. has seen mass killings in recent years where police said gunmen had racist or misogynist motivations, advocates and scholars say the shootings this week at three Atlanta-area massage parlors targeted a group of people marginalized in more ways than one, in a crime that stitches together stigmas about race, gender, migrant work and sex work.
"In some ways this is another manifestation of the targeting of marginalized people in the U.S.," said Angela Jones, an associate professor of sociology at Farmingdale State College, State University of New York, whose research has focused on race, gender, sexuality and sex work.
The killings in Atlanta follow a wave of recent attacks against Asian Americans since the coronavirus first entered the United States, with the majority of reports coming from women. The 21-year-old suspect denied his attack was racially motivated and claimed to have a "sex addiction," with authorities saying he apparently saw massage parlors as sources of temptation.