Do you have a cabin or place you like to visit up north in Michigan? Right now might seem like a great time to go there and get away from it all, but officials are urging otherwise.
For those who must go up north, they are asked to bring 14 days of supplies with them and self-quarantine once they arrive.
In a press release from Chippewa County, travelers are warned that War Memorial Hospital is the only hospital in the Eastern Upper Peninsula with intensive care unit beds, and although they have met the State of Michigan’s request to increase its surge capacity to 50% over its conventional capacity, resources are still limited.
Resort towns like Traverse City and Petoskey are worried that people who have part-time homes there might come and bring COVID-19 with them. Petoskey Mayor John Murphy told Bridge Magazine last month that limited medical staff, beds, and ventilators at hospitals in Emmet and Charlevoix counties would not “be enough to handle the onslaught if it comes full force.”
Governor Whitmer’s Stay Home, Stay Safe order bans non-essential travel, but travel between two residences in this state is allowed.
Grand Traverse County Health Officer Wendy Hirschenberger said that people who are driving up from downstate are high-risk and echoed the statement from Chippewa County that those who do travel need to self-quarantine for 14 days upon arrival. “Symptomatic or not, pretend as if you are carrying it and do your part to slow the spread,” says Hirschenberger.
