ALPENA — District Health Departments No. 2 and No. 4 joined other northern Michigan health departments on Sunday in issuing an emergency order requiring essential businesses to screen workers for coronavirus symptoms and implement a plan to manage social distancing in the workplace.

The emergency order goes into effect at noon today and expires on April 13.

While there has not been a confirmed case of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, in Alpena, Alcona, Montmorency, or Presque Isle counties, Health Department officials feel it is necessary to take additional steps to protect health and safety.

A provision in the state’s Public Health Code allows a local health officer to issue and enforce an emergency order.

Denise Bryan, administrative health officer of District Health Departments No. 2 and No. 4, decided to enact an emergency order the day she received the report of the death of an individual in Cheboygan County.

“There, quite frankly, are lives on the line,” Bryan said, noting people returning from spring breaks and vacations and people from downstate are traveling to their cabins in northern Michigan.

Under the emergency order, essential businesses would have to document whether employees are exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms, including fever, cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, or diarrhea.

Additionally, the businesses need to determine whether a worker has had close contact with someone diagnosed with COVID-19, determine whether the worker engaged in any activity or travel in the last 14 days that violated Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s state-mandated stay-home order, and determine whether the worker has been directed by the Health Department either to self-isolate or self-quarantine.

If an essential work answers “yes” to any of those questions, the worker should be excluded from work until they go three days with no fever and seven days after the onset of the first symptom, 14 days if he or she had close contact with a diagnosed case of COVID-19, or 14 days following any activity or travel.

Essential businesses must also create a plan to control social distancing, keeping workers six feet from their coworkers and customers waiting in lines within or outside of the business.

Violating the Health Department’s emergency order could result in a misdemeanor charge punishable by up to six months in jail or a fine of $200.

First responders, health care workers, law enforcement, emergency medical services, health-related transportation workers, and other essential health care workers are exempt from the emergency order.

On Sunday, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services reported 15,718 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 617 deaths statewide.

The state now reports zero cases of coronavirus infection in Presque Isle County, after reporting on Friday that county’s first confirmed infection in what local Health Department officials said was “due to error in data entry” in the state’s system that tracks cases of COVID-19.

DHD No. 4 spokeswoman Cathy Goike said on Sunday the Health Department reports its numbers based on data and test results it receives directly from the state. But Goike said a number of agencies throughout the state are entering data into the state tracking system, and errors, such as data entry errors and wrong addresses, can occur.

In the meantime, public health officials continue to ask residents to stay home unless absolutely necessary, regardless of whether a case is confirmed in their community.

Bryan said it would be naive to say COVID-19 isn’t in the region, because Health Department officials know people are traveling for health care and that there are people traveling into the area.

“It’s here, and, if we’re waiting for a testing number, I think we’re going to lose ground,” Bryan said.

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