News Photo by Crystal Nelson Bay Athletic Club membership coordinator and instructor Sara Zimmerman and membership manager Jennie Handrich work at the club’s service desk on Friday.

ALPENA — Michiganders who are fully vaccinated can go without a mask indoors as of 9 a.m. today, but residents who are not vaccinated or have not completed their vaccinations, must continue to wear masks inside.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Friday announced the state updated its Gatherings and Mask Order to align with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest guidance on face coverings.

A person is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after their second dose in a two-dose series, such as the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or two weeks after a single-dose vaccine, such as Johnson and Johnson’s Jenssen vaccine.

The updated order also states Michiganders who are outdoors, no longer need to wear a mask regardless of vaccination status and the broad indoor mask mandate will expire after July 1.

The news comes a day after the CDC released updated guidance recommending, “fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear a mask or physically distance in any setting, except where required by federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules, and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance.”

Whitmer lauded the move as “the next step to get back to normal,” but area business owners had mixed thoughts on the new mandates.

JJ’s Steak and Pizza House owner John Benson said he learned of the news Friday afternoon and needed to learn more about the governor’s announcement. He said having some people in the restaurant who are forced to wear masks, and others who aren’t creates an issue in determining who actually is vaccinated and who isn’t.

“It would be almost impossible to police unless everyone who has been vaccinated has a tattoo showing it,” he said. “I would like to see what the other restaurants are going to do, because I think we all need to be on the same page for this, or there are going to be a lot of arguments.”

Alpena Area Chamber of Commerce President Adam Poll said what is good for one business may not be good for another, so the decision on masks is best made by those who own or run them. He said during the most intense part of the pandemic, local stores, shops, restaurants and taverns made large investments to protect their customers from COVID-19, and expects they will act the same now.

“Our businesses have shown in the last year they can operate safely, so I fully expect they will continue to do so,” Poll said. “It will be up to each business to decide what is right for them and their clientele.”

Bay Athletic Club Owner Trina Gray in a Friday Facebook post, said club officials are watching the state mandates and CDC guidelines and “hope to permit unmasking at workouts for vaccinated individuals.”

District Health Department No. 4 Health Officer Denise Bryan was asked if the health department would have a statement about Whitmer’s decision, or guidance for local businesses and residents. She said she had a teleconference meeting with state officials Friday to learn more.

In the meantime, state and local public health officials continue to urge eligible Michigan residents to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Local hospitals, health departments, federally qualified health centers, and area pharmacies will continue to offer vaccines to the public.

MidMichigan Medical Center-Alpena Public Relations Manager Millie Jezior said the hospital will run mass vaccine clinics through the end of May, which will include the younger patient population.

She said patients of MidMichigan Physicians Group providers can call the provider office to make an appointment for the vaccine while others can call the hospital’s COVID hotline at 1-800-445-7356 to be put on a list for the vaccine.

District Health Departments Nos. 2 and 4 continue to offer walk-in vaccination opportunities and have information about their upcoming clinics posted to their websites, dhd4.org and dhd2.org.

A walk-in clinic is planned from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Wednesday at the Cheboygan Knights of Columbus Hall and from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. May 27 at DHD No. 4’s Alpena office.

DHD No. 2 is offering vaccines from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Wednesday at its Harrisville and Mio offices. The health departments are also taking pre-registrations for kids ages 12 to 17 to be vaccinated.

As of Friday, 49% of Alpena County residents 16 or older had been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, according to state data.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has said Michigan can begin to fully reopen once 70% of its residents 16 and older have been vaccinated.

The state says 53% of Presque Isle County residents, 47% of Montmorency County residents, and 48% of Alcona County residents have been fully vaccinated.

In the past week, public health officials have reported 130 newly infected or probably Northeast Michiganders and the deaths of three who had been infected.

Since February, Northeast Michigan health officials had reported confirmed and suspected infections as one number. A person is suspected infected if they’d been exposed to a confirmed infected person but hadn’t been tested, themselves — such as family members of infected people.

Northeast Michigan public health agencies stopped reporting the number of people recovered from COVID-19, but, based on federal definitions that consider a person living 30 days after infection to have recovered from the disease, The News estimates 1,270 Northeast Michiganders were actively infected — and potentially contagious — on Friday.

A week ago, 1,320 residents were actively infected.

Other key Northeast Michigan COVID-19 statistics:

* As of Thursday, eight COVID-19 patients were admitted at MidMichigan Medical Center-Alpena, one of them in intensive care. The hospital was 46% full. State officials watch hospital occupancy rates closely to decide whether to impose new restrictions meant to slow the spread of infection.

* Since the pandemic’s start in mid-March 2020, public health officials have reported 4,549 Northeast Michiganders infected or probably infected, and 125 related deaths.

* On May 4, the state reported no newly infected residents of Northeast Michigan nursing homes, and no newly infected nursing home employees. That’s a key statistic, because COVID-19 tends to cause the most serious complications in infected senior citizens, and nursing home infections accounted for most infections early on in the outbreak.

News Staff Writer Steve Schulwitz contributed to this report.

VACCINES

NOTE: The chart shows the percent of Northeast Michiganders 16 and older fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, meaning they’d received both doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or the single-dose Johnson and Johnson vaccine. The “target” line above reflects that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has said the state can begin to fully reopen once Michigan has vaccinated 70% of its residents 16 and older.

INFECTIONS, RECOVERIES, AND DEATHS

NOTE: Northeast Michigan public health agencies have reported confirmed and suspected infections as one number since Feb. 18. A suspected infection represents a person who’d been in close contact with an infected person but hadn’t been tested themselves, such as a person who lives with a person confirmed infected.

Those agencies also stopped tracking recoveries after vaccine rollouts began in earnest in early 2021. The number of recoveries represents a News estimate based on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention definition of “recovered” as an infected person still living 30 days after infection.

ACTIVE CASES

NOTE: “Active cases” is a News estimate of the number of currently infected — and potentially contagious — Northeast Michiganders representing cumulative cases minus recoveries and deaths.

HOSPITAL OCCUPANCY

NOTE: One of the primary goals of state-mandated coronavirus restrictions has been to prevent hospitals from being overrun with COVID-19-infected patients, so hospital occupancy rates are a key metric state officials use when deciding whether new restrictions are necessary.

TIMELINE: THE FIRST YEAR

Click through the interactive timeline below for a look at how the coronavirus spread throughout Northeast Michigan in its first year.