Gov. Whitmer Signs $1.2B Bill To Fight COVID-19 With Federal Funds

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Wednesday approved spending $1.2 billion in federal aid to fight COVID-19, including for understaffed health care providers to recruit and retain workers with bonuses.

The new law allots $300 million for hospitals and nursing homes to award the financial incentives as they see fit, $150 million to continue testing and screening in schools, and $367 million to speed processing at labs.

"This bill is a testament to what's possible when Republicans and Democrats work together to put Michiganders first," the Democratic governor said in a statement.

The measure had received overwhelming approval from the GOP-led Legislature.

It includes $100 million for early treatment of patients with therapeutics to blunt the worst effects of the virus and $70 million in grants to adult foster care facilities and homes for the aged. There is $39 million for nursing homes to improve infection controls.

Cases and hospitalizations have been dropping from recent pandemic highs. The number of hospitalized adults with confirmed cases in Michigan, around 2,000 on Monday, was down from nearly 4,600 a month ago. The seven-day daily average of new infections was 2,660, 15% of the peak.

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