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Covid-19

CMU orders masks at least through September

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. (AP) — Central Michigan University joined the ranks of schools to require people on campus to wear masks when students to return to campus this fall, the school’s president announced Monday. In a letter to students, President Bob Davies said students, faculty and staffers must wear masks in class at least through the end of September. The letter comes as the school said classrooms will return to full capacity and that the vast majority of classes will involve a “face-to-face component.” The letter also was at a time when the number of COVID-19 cases has ...

Graham 1st vaccinated senator with virus ‘breakthrough’

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Sen. Lindsey Graham has become the first senator to disclose a breakthrough infection after being vaccinated against the coronavirus, saying Monday he is “very glad” he received the vaccine, without which his current symptoms would be “far worse.” The news prompted several other lawmakers to get quick COVID-19 tests and report their status. A handful of Senate colleagues spent part of the weekend working and socializing with the South Carolina Republican, who attended a gathering on Sen. Joe Manchin’s houseboat the evening that he first developed ...

State data shows 34 more virus cases in UP

State data Friday showed three new confirmed COVID-19 positives in Dickinson County and one in Iron County in the past three days. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services’ coronavirus website Friday had 34 new confirmed positives in the Upper Peninsula for the three-day period ...

U of Michigan, MSU mandating vaccines

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The University of Michigan and Michigan State University will require all students, faculty and staff to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by the start of the fall semester. Both university presidents said Friday that action is being taken due to the spread of the more infectious delta variant. Michigan State is taking things a step further and requiring masks to be worn indoors starting in August for the first few weeks of school, university President Samuel Stanley Jr. said during a media conference Friday. Stanley said the university hoped to not have to ...

Michigan: 350K who received jobless aid won’t have to repay

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — About 350,000 Michigan residents who received federal unemployment aid will not have to repay benefits even though the state told them that it mistakenly approved some eligibility reasons at the start of the pandemic. The Unemployment Insurance Agency said Friday that it will waive overpayments for the group, including many who might no longer be collecting benefits. They are among nearly 600,000 claimants — the self-employed, independent contractors and others who do not typically qualify for benefits — who were asked to requalify for the federal ...

Vaccinated people can carry as much COVID-19 as others

In another dispiriting setback for the nation's efforts to stamp out the coronavirus, scientists who studied a big COVID-19 outbreak in Massachusetts concluded that vaccinated people who got so-called breakthrough infections carried about the same amount of the coronavirus as those who did not get the shots. Health officials on Friday released details of that research, which was key in this week's decision by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to recommend that vaccinated people return to wearing masks indoors in parts of the U.S. where the delta variant is fueling ...