A plan for dealing with the coronavirus pandemic in Michigan was released today by a group of Republican members of the Michigan State House.
The group said “the plan relies on science-based, county-level data to guide decisions” on responses to COVID-19.
"Those responses may vary from place to place as the prevalence of the virus and other local conditions may vary,” said Rep. Ben Frederick of Owosso in a release.
The plan establishes benchmarks of data that would trigger actions on whether to tighten or loosen restrictions. Each data point would be at the county level throughout the state, looking at case rate, positivity rate, hospital capacity and the the amount of surge in admissions that hospitals experience, PPE supply, and ability to test for COVID-19.
The triggers were spelled out, requiring different responses above or below these levels:
- Case rate: 55 cases per million population over a 14-day period.
- Positivity rate: 5 percent over a 14-day period.
- Surge and hospital capacity: A surge of 20 percent in admissions or transfers, and a 25 percent increase in hospitalizations over 14 days.
- PPE supply: Health facilities must have a two-week supply of personal protective equipment.
- Ability to test: Each county would be required to test 15 people per 10,000 residents per day and get test results back in three days or less.
“Intervention strategies would immediately go into effect” if a county went above any of those benchmarks, the group said in their release.
The group said they had consulted with Michigan medical and science experts and looked at best practices in other states in dealing with the pandemic.
