News File Photo The Alpena Michigan Works! Office appears in this March 2020 News archive photo.

ALPENA — New unemployment filings by the thousands have tied up phone lines and slowed Web pages as businesses continue to close their doors and lay off workers as they heed Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s orders to limit commerce to essential businesses to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

In Alpena County, unemployment filings doubled in the days following Whitmer’s closure of restaurants and entertainment venues, according to U.S. Department of Labor statistics.

Adding to the slowdown, unemployment offices have closed their doors to slow the spread of the virus that, as of Monday, had been detected in at least 6,498 Michiganders, killing 184.

The crashed websites and busy signals on the phone lines may be frustrating, but Michiganders’ unemployment claims will be filed with “a little bit of patience and a lot of persistence,” Angie Asam, career navigator at the Michigan Works! office in Onaway, said.

There were still no confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, in Alpena, Alcona, Montmorency, or Presque Isle counties as of Monday.

According to local public health departments, 110 tests had been submitted to the state from Alpena, Montmorency, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, and Alcona counties, with 66 negative results received and 43 results still pending. One case has been confirmed in a Cheboygan County resident.

Meanwhile, though the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in northern Michigan remains low, hospitals such as McLaren Northern Michigan have prepared for an influx of COVID-19 patients by expanding the hospital’s capacity for isolation units.

DOUBLED

UNEMPLOYMENT CLAIMS

Nearly 3.3 million unemployment claims were filed nationwide in the week ending March 21, the U. S. Department of Labor said Thursday — an increase of 3 million from the previous week and nearly five times the next-highest weekly claims total, which happened in 1982.

The service industry has been particularly hard-hit, according to the Department of Labor, which also listed health care and social assistance, arts, entertainment and recreation, transportation and warehousing, and manufacturing industries as losing large portions of their workforce.

The local avalanche of claims began after Whitmer on March 16 ordered restaurants, entertainment venues, gyms, and other businesses closed statewide.

In Alpena, filings jumped from 309 during the week ending March 14 to 622 the following week, according to the Labor Department.

Alcona County, with 85 filings that week, increased by 57%. Presque Isle and Montmorency counties, with the third- and fourth-highest unemployment rates in the state, saw filing increases between 33% and 74% in that time period, according to the Labor Department.

Numbers are not yet available for unemployment filings since Whitmer on March 23 issued a broader order closing all but the most essential businesses.

In a best-case scenario, with successful virus mitigation efforts, the unemployment rate in Michigan may rise from 4.1% in 2019 to 5.8% in 2020 before declining back to 4.5% in 2021, the University of Michigan Department of Economics said in a March 19 economic forecast.

In a worse-case scenario, the unemployment rate could peak at 10% in late 2020.

‘A SCARY TIME’

Asam, of the Michigan Works! office in Onaway, started to see coronavirus-related unemployment filings in mid-February, but it wasn’t until the end of last week when things really picked up.

Asam said 17 people came into the office on Monday. She also took 45 phone calls and answered a number of questions via Facebook and text message.

“A lot of people are getting laid off from a lot of different sectors, and, for a lot of them, this is the first time they’ve ever filed for unemployment,” Asam said. “So, not only is it a scary time, they’re doing something they’ve never done.”

While Asam can’t file unemployment claims for her clients, she helps guide them through the process. When many of her clients on Monday couldn’t complete their claim before getting kicked off the website, she encouraged them to save their information after every step so they can pick up where they left off.

Asam said people are mostly frustrated with the amount of time it’s taking to file their claims.

Most people applying for benefits expect to go back to work as soon as the quarantine is ended, Asam, of Michigan Works!, said.

“I haven’t heard anybody say they think they’re going to lose their job because of this,” Asam said.

While many workers have been laid off or furloughed from work, there are still many essential businesses hiring. New job postings for Meijer, Rite Aid, and the Home Depot appeared on The News’s website Monday.

‘CALLER NUMBER 900 AND THEN SOME’

Michiganders’ experiences filing claims is varied.

When Judy Stevens, co-owner of Headlines Family Salon in Alpena, had close her shop because of Whitmer’s order, she worried about filing for unemployment because her friend had such a hard time applying by phone.

“It said they were caller number 900 and then some,” Stevens said.

When she filed online on Sunday, however, the process took about 10 minutes, Stevens said.

Notifications on the state website warned her that moving to the next web page might take some time because of high traffic, but there was never more than a 30-second wait, Stevens said.

Government officials are trying to help.

To spread out the load, the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency established a filing schedule based on the first letter of the filer’s last name. Filers won’t be penalized if they don’t follow the schedule, and claims will be back-dated to reflect the date in which a claimant was laid off or let go from his or her job because of COVID-19, the agency said.

The best time to file is during non-peak hours of 8 p.m. to 8 a.m., the agency said.

An agreement between Michigan and the U.S. Department of Labor announced Monday will offer benefits to the self-employed, independent contractors, and other workers who do not already qualify for state unemployment benefits

Weekly benefits for all unemployed workers will be increased by a set amount of $600 a week for up to four months.

Crystal Nelson can be reached at 989-358-5687 or cnelson@thealpenanews.com. Julie Riddle can be reached at 989-358-5693, jriddle@thealpenanews.com or on Twitter @jriddleX.

Filing schedules for unemployment benefits

To control the overload of new unemployment claims, the state has asked Michiganders to file claims on certain days based on the first letter of their last name.

When filing online at Michigan.gov/UIA:

Last names begins with:

A-L: Mondays, Wednesday, Fridays.

M-Z: Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays.

When filing through the call center at, 866-500-0017, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.:

Last names begins with:

A-L: Mondays and Wednesdays

M-Z: Tuesdays and Thursdays

Fridays will be available to accommodate those who could not file during their allotted window.