News Photo by Crystal Nelson Mike and Becky Bean, of Harrisville, work in their yard outside of their North Lake Street home on Friday.

HARRISVILLE — While Northeast Michigan remains one of the few places in the Lower Peninsula without a confirmed coronavirus case, a “perfect storm” may be brewing.

The region is home to an aging population, with a number of residents 60 or older, the group most at risk of being hospitalized or dying from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Across Michigan, 61% of all COVID-19 patients are 50 or older, and the average age among those killed by the disease is 68.

Much of Northeast Michigan falls into those same age brackets.

The median age in Alcona County, for example, is nearly 58. Nearly half of the county’s residents are 60 or older.

“We have the perfect storm when it comes to this virus,” Lenny Avery, executive director of the Alcona County Commission on Aging, said.

News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Long lines of cars wait their turn to receive free commodities given away in Alpena on Friday. Police helped to overlook traffic while the event took place as volunteers distributed the products via a drive-thu system.

The county is also extremely poor, Avery said, with very limited resources, including limited access to doctors. The nearest hospitals are in Alpena or Tawas, Avery said.

Statistics on the aging populations of Montmorency and Presque Isle counties are similar, with median ages of 55 and 54, respectively, and about 40% of their populations 60 or older.

Alpena County is slightly younger, with a median age of 47 and about a third of residents 60 or older.

While people of all ages can be infected, older people — and people with pre-exisitng conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or asthma — appear to be much more vulnerable to becoming severely ill if they get the virus, said Lydia Watson, chief medical officer at MidMichigan Health, the Midland-based company that owns the Alpena hospital.

Watson said those older than 60 account for 45% of all hospitalizations, 53% of intensive care unit admissions, and 80% of deaths.

“That’s just data that supports that, not only are they able to contract the virus, but, if they do, they’re more likely to become severely ill and potentially even die because of it,” she said.

On one hand, living in a rural community may protect residents from infection, because it’s easier to practice “social distancing,” Watson said. But it also might be more difficult to seek care because you live farther from a hospital and rural hospitals tend to be smaller and have fewer resources.

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Residents are aware of their risk.

Snowbirds Mike and Becky Bean returned to their Harrisville home on March 20 after spending the winter in Florida. They’ve self-quarantined since returning.

“We were down there for the winter and it was getting real bad down there, and we didn’t want to get quarantined down there and not be able to come home, so we came home early,” Mike Bean said.

Becky Bean said that, while the weather isn’t warm in Harrisville, she feels safer up here, where no cases of the virus have been reported, yet. The only downside is that, if she were to get sick, the hospital isn’t very big. She worries it would get overrun quickly.

Their neighbor, Carl Gehres, spent the winter in Harrisville. Gehres said he is considered a high-risk individual, because he only has one kidney and it is failing badly.

“I’m a very, very high risk,” he said. “For me, it would probably be the end of my life.”

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Complicating matters in Alcona County, people are ignoring the Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s shelter-in-place order and are returning to their Up North cottages or summer homes from downstate, Avery said.

He said the community has the potential to grow from its 10,000 winter population to 30,000 in the summer. He’s concerned because county officials already don’t have the ability to take care of the current population.

“We’re sitting on a tinderbox, and all it takes is one match to ignite a pandemic up here that we can’t handle, because the Alpena regional hospital and hospital in Tawas can’t handle the influx of people from Alcona County,” he said.

Watson, of MidMichigan Health, said the most important things seniors can do is stay at least six feet away from people, wash their hands, and disinfect surfaces in their home. The virus is spread by respiratory droplets and is known to live on surfaces for as long as nine days, she said.

“If they are not exposed to the virus, they won’t become infected by the virus,” Watson said. “And, if they’re not infected by the virus, we won’t see these numbers that we’re currently seeing.”

Avery’s Commission on Aging has modified some of its services under the governor’s executive order, but continues to serve seniors. The congregate meals program is continuing as a drive-thru service, the home-delivered meals program is continuing, as are in-home services considered essential.

Avery said his agency serves between 100 and 125 seniors per day through its home-delivered meal program, and requests for the meals continue to increase.

Any county residents 60 or older who either can’t or are afraid to go out can call 989-335-4035. Avery said staff will get back with them if they leave a name and phone number.

Two community food drops are also planned for Wednesday and April 9.

Crystal Nelson can be reached at 989-358-5687 or cnelson@thealpenanews.com.