SOUTHFIELD (WWJ) - It has been two years since the start of the pandemic in Michigan and state health officials on the frontlines said nothing could have prepared them for the struggles COVID-19 would bring.
WWJ's Dr. Deanna Lites spoke with Elizabeth Hertel, Director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) who said she never expected funeral homes and mortuaries to fill up as the death toll skyrocketed due to the novel coronavirus.
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"The one thing I never thought I would be doing would be trying to identify additional refrigerated options because we were concerned about running out of space in our morgues across the state," Hertel said in a live interview.
During the height of the pandemic, as many as 13,000 Michiganders were testing positive for COVID; on Monday, the state logged a total of 32,134 deaths.
Hertel recounted how other Michiganders and she herself struggled with avoiding contact with other people as the virus first surged across the state in 2020 when little was known about COVID.
"Our best tools were really to avoid contact with other people and so, we were staying in our homes and limiting how much we were going out in public."
State health officials said Michigan is currently in a post-surge recovery phase and will focus efforts toward vaccinations, community support and advising individual situations.
The state announced updated guidelines to its COVID-19 Isolation & Quarantine and school setting protocols in a press release on Friday.
"As we move through the phases of our COVID-19 response our recommendations will be updated to reflect the current status of transmission, while continuing to prioritize public health and promote health and wellness for all communities," said Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, MDHHS Chief Medical Executive.
Under the new guidelines, Michigan residents will no longer be required to quarantine; the new rules apply both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals.
Bagdasarian still urged Michiganders ages 5 and up to get vaccinated and boosted as they are eligible, stating vaccines continue to remain the state's best defense against the disease.
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