Courtesy Image An illustration of the coronavirus provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

ALPENA — Another resident of Alpena County has died after being infected with COVID-19 and infections and deaths in Northeast Michigan nursing homes spiked today as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer extended by 12 days a partial shutdown of Michigan’s economy meant to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Northeast Michigan public health officials today reported 135 Northeast Michiganders newly infected since Friday, including 74 Alpena County residents, 30 Presque Isle County residents, 12 Montmorency County residents, and 19 Alcona County residents. That is the second-largest weekend jump in infections since the pandemic began.

That means that, as of today, 1,295 Northeast Michiganders were actively infected, meaning they’d been confirmed infected with COVID-19 but have not recovered or died, and could infect others.

Meanwhile, Whitmer today extended to Dec. 20 a partial shutdown of businesses and schools, rejecting desperate appeals to lift a ban on indoor restaurant dining. The current shutdown, announced last month, was to expire on Wednesday.

The interactive graphic below shows active infections in Northeast Michigan over time. Story continues below graphic.

The 12-day addition will enable the state health department to assess how Thanksgiving travel affected the spread of COVID-19, Whitmer, a Democrat.

“We’ve made progress during this three-week pause … but there is more work we need to do to protect one another,” she said at a news conference. “Our progress is fragile and we cannot let up yet.”

In-person instruction at high schools and colleges, dine-in eating at restaurants, and organized sports will continue to be prohibited. Entertainment venues such as movie theaters and bowling alleys will remain closed. Indoor residential gatherings are limited to 10 people from two households.

‘IN THIS TOGETHER’

State health Director Robert Gordon said he wants to see a drop in new cases, a lower rate of positive tests, and a flattening or reduction in the number of hospital beds filled with COVID-19 patients.

The priority will be reopening high schools, then entertainment businesses where people can consistently wear masks such as theaters and bowling centers if concessions are closed.

The interactive chart below shows cumulative infections, recoveries and deaths in Northeast Michigan over time. Story continues below graphic.

“Let me be clear: There’s no formula. These numbers don’t capture some things that matter, like the age of people getting sick or the mix of tests being measured,” Gordon said. “You don’t ask your doctor to judge your health by a formula. You don’t judge your family’s financial well-being by one formula. Michigan lives are too important to use a faulty formula.”

Hospital executives applauded the action. They said while hospitalizations had begun to stabilize, dozens of hospitals across the state were reporting critical staffing issues. The Michigan Health & Hospital Association urged the public to “honor” health care workers by getting a flu shot, wearing a mask, avoiding social gatherings and washing hands.

“We are in this together,” CEO Brian Peters said.

‘A MORE NUANCED APPROACH’

A top restaurant industry official, though, said he was “exceptionally disappointed” albeit not surprised.

“We firmly believe there is a better approach — one followed by 45 other states — that doesn’t use blunt force closure of a single industry to resolve a shared crisis,” said Justin Winslow, president and CEO of the Michigan Restaurant & Lodging Association. Restaurant dining rooms will have been closed for 118 days, nearly a third of the year, later this month.

Flip through the interactive timeline below to see how the coronavirus spread through Northeast Michigan. Story continues below the timeline.

“We maintain that a more nuanced approach that allows for limited indoor capacity with a curfew will result in greater compliance, better health outcomes and substantially reduced economic fallout,” Winslow said.

Whitmer said it is no one’s fault that restaurants must bar indoor dining. “This is how COVID-19 spreads. It’s just that simply — the science of the virus,” she said.

The current restrictions, many of which were in place earlier in the pandemic, took effect Nov. 18.

The seven-day average of daily new cases statewide was 6,918 on Sunday, down from 7,604 two weeks before, according to the COVID Tracking Project. The rate of tests coming back positive, 12.4%, was up from 11.3%. The average daily death count was 122 — an increase from 71.3 on Nov. 22 — and the fourth-highest in the country.

More than 4,100 people were hospitalized statewide with symptoms, including about 500 on ventilators.

OTHER ALPENA-AREA DATA

As of today, 20 COVID-19 patients, four of whom were in intensive care, were hospitalized at MidMichigan Medical Center-Alpena, according to state data. The Alpena hospital was 37% full.

As of today, 127 people were hospitalized with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 infection across the state-designated, 18-county health care region that includes Alpena, Presque Isle, and Montmorency counties, according to state data.

Since the pandemic hit Michigan in mid-March, 1,549 Northeast Michiganders have been infected, according to local public health agencies. Of those, 225 have recovered and 29 have died.

This story has been updated to remove references to nursing home infections after questions were raised about the validity of the state’s data. The News has reached out to the state to explain discrepancies.