MI Receives Medical Help, Ventilators In Biden's New Plan

MICHIGAN — President Biden announced new actions to help communities and hospitals battle the omicron variant, including sending medical personal and Ventilators to Michigan.

The president said six emergency response teams—with more than 100 clinical personnel and paramedics—will be deployed immediately to Michigan and five other states now. Indiana, Wisconsin, Arizona, New Hampshire and Vermont will also receive federal medical help.

The announcement comes on top of the 300 federal medical personnel previously deployed since discovering the omicron variant.

The United States Health and Human Services Department will also speed up the deployment of ventilators to Michigan and other states that are facing strains and need them, according to a news release. Just last week, the administration sent 330 ventilators to Indiana, Michigan, Maine and New Hampshire.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Tuesday Michigan is for a "tough four to six weeks" as health officials expect COVID-19 cases related to omicron rise. The latest CDC data showed the omicron variant overtook the delta variant in new COVID-19 cases in several midwestern states, including Michigan.

While Michigan's positivity rate has decreased, it still remains relatively high at 16.2 percent with 477 new COVID-19 cases per million people.

Michigan also leads the nation in COVID-19 with a rate of 47 per 100,000 residents, according to data tracked by The New York Times.

Other parts of the president's new plan included expanding coronavirus testing sites across the country, distribute a half-billion free at-home tests and deploy more federal health resources to aid strained hospitals as the omicron variant drives a fresh wave of infections.