Entering 2021, the community could only hope that vaccines, preventative measures and the passage of time would quiet the scourge.

Locally, COVID-19 was patient. In Dickinson County, data from early October showed fewer than 200 cases and just two deaths related to the virus.

During the summer, the county’s unemployment rate had ranked among the lowest in the state. It created an illusion, perhaps, that the plague was less than feared.

That was not to be.

Foster Wonders

By year’s end, the Dickinson-Iron District Health Department showed Dickinson County reporting 64 deaths among 2,000 cases. With a county population just above 25,200, that equates to one death per 394 residents.

While skewed by its comparative scale, it’s a death rate worse than New Jersey, the state with the highest virus toll per capita in the nation.

In October, the Michigan Supreme Court invalidated Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s coronavirus restrictions by declaring unconstitutional the 75-year-old law that underpinned them. Her administration, however, reissued mask orders and gathering limits under a public health law.

Despite those ongoing restrictions, Michigan reported nearly 2,600 virus-related deaths in December alone.

In Wisconsin, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers saw many of his efforts to address the coronavirus thwarted, including a “safer at home” order the state Supreme Court threw out in May.

Wisconsin, with a population of 5.8 million, had a virus death toll approaching 5,000 in 2020, while Michigan’s exceeded 12,000. Michigan’s population is about 10 million.

Across the 15-county Upper Peninsula, with an estimated population of 310,000, state health officials reported 324 virus deaths through 2020.

By comparison, the nation of Finland, holding cultural links to the U.P., reported 561 COVID-19 deaths for the year. With a population of 5.5 million, its case rate ranked as the lowest in Europe in the wake of an early shutdown and aggressive contact tracing.

Coping with the pandemic, local governments followed suit with state and national directives. The Dickinson County Board first declared a coronavirus emergency March 16, even as the virus had yet to reach the U.P. After pausing the order in May, the board reinstituted it Oct. 26, citing an explosive rise in infections.

On Dec. 17, frontline health care workers began receiving COVID-19 vaccines at Dickinson County Healthcare System. That same day, five COVID-19 patients were being treated at the hospital, including two in ICU.

The local surge in virus cases coincided with an Oct. 17 malware attack at DCHS, which carried on through the crisis by reverting to paper records.

“I can’t say enough about the way the team responded,” CEO Chuck Nelson told the hospital board during a Nov. 19 Zoom meeting.

The federal CARES Act helped ease the financial strain of the virus for many entities, and DCHS was no exception. In June, the hospital reported 118 days of cash on hand, compared with just 26 days in December 2018 when a heavy debt load had pushed it toward insolvency.

At year’s end, there was no complete accounting, but the board was confident enough to approve $3 million to $4 million in new equipment purchases while shoring up pension funding. Meanwhile, the hospital awaited word from the U.S. Department of Agriculture on its application for a $16.9 million Rural Development loan to refinance long-term debt.

In February, the hospital had been poised to sell $32 million in revenue bonds, but those plans fell through in March as the market recoiled at the reality of COVID-19.

The pandemic year also was an election year. Local races in November were fairly quiet, with Republicans widely prevailing in partisan contests.

Statewide, however, Democrat Joe Biden carried the presidential race and Democratic Sen. Gary Peters won re-election.

In Dickinson County, Republican President Donald Trump collected 9,617 votes to 4,744 for Biden, a victory margin that was down slightly from 2016. That year, Trump had carried Michigan over Democrat Hillary Clinton by 10,704 votes. Biden’s victory in the state was by 146,000 votes.

As the president pressed to overturn Michigan’s support for Biden, state Sen. Ed McBroom, R-Waucedah Township, scheduled an emergency hearing in Lansing to consider allegations of election improprieties. McBroom reasoned that airing the grievances could help restore trust, but he also came under criticism for helping reckless conspiracy theories reach a wider audience.

In Wisconsin, voters in the School District of Niagara said yes in November to both $3,995,000 for facility improvements plus a measure letting the district exceed its state-set annual revenue limits for four years. In Florence County, voters rejected a four-year school operational referendum that will come up again in April.

Dickinson County’s jobless rate in November was 3.8%, only slightly higher than the November 2019 rate of 3.5%. By that metric, the county was doing better than the rest of the state, which saw a November over-the-year increase of 3.1 percentage points.

Still, the strain on brick-and-mortar stores and the fallout from virus restrictions that included Michigan bans on indoor dining will be felt indefinitely. Some businesses were already shuttered, while others toiled through uncertainty.

For Michigan school districts, virtual learning began March 16 by order of the governor. Local high school graduation ceremonies were mixed, with most choosing drive-thru events or other unique gatherings.

Iron Mountain’s quest for a state boys basketball title was halted in March as the Michigan High School Athletic Association suspended all events.

“I’m not a doctor or a health expert, and I don’t really fully understand this coronavirus, but when the people who do tell us this is what has to be done, I support it,” coach Bucky Johnson said. “There’s things in life that are bigger than basketball and this is one of those moments.”

Eventually, the MHSAA’s suspension became a cancellation. After losing the 2019 state championship game in a controversial finish, the Mountaineers would be forced in their next season to settle for a 21-1 overall record and an abbreviated run of two tournament wins. Standout Foster Wonders, entering his senior season, announced in July he would sign a letter of intent to play at Southern Illinois University.

In-person school instruction resumed in the fall, but it was on-again off-again. Fall sports carried on and the North Central Jets readied for a run at a state title in eight-player football. The Jets won the regional championship 55-8 over Cedarville on Nov. 13, but would have to wait for the MHSAA to allow play to resume in January, finally securing a championship Jan. 16.

The Kiwanis Ski Club began renovations in late spring to erect a new ski jump scaffold at Pine Mountain, bringing the hill to current International Ski Federation standards. A multi-phase project was launched to save the annual tournament and put the club in a position to again host World Cup events, placing it ahead of former Olympic sites in Utah and New York.

The scaffold was finished in time for a planned 2021 Continental Cup event. But the storied venue, which saw Clemens Aigner of Austria set a new hill record of 472 feet on Feb. 16, fell victim to the pandemic. Limits on social gatherings forced the club to appeal for continued community support as it made plans to renew the event in 2022.

On June 3, a group of marchers in Iron Mountain made local the nationwide protests over the Memorial Day death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. The group numbered only about 70 and remained peaceful. Supporters of President Trump several times confronted them.

Kylie Remer, a Kingsford City Council member, said the event showed it is possible to have a peaceful protest. “We just wanted to raise awareness that Black lives matter,” she said.

Before the pandemic, community voices were heard at a Feb. 24 meeting of the Dickinson County Board, as scores of gun advocates asked commissioners to establish a “Second Amendment Sanctuary County.”

The board stopped short of such a declaration — touted as a way to resist gun control legislation. It did, however, adopt a resolution affirming its support of “the right to keep and bear arms.”