Whitmer signs $1.2B bill to fight COVID with federal funds

DAVID EGGERT, Associated Press

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has 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 bill signed Wednesday allots $300 million for hospitals and nursing home to award the financial incentives as they see fit, $150 million to continue testing and screening in schools, and $367 million for labs to speed test processing.

Cases and hospitalizations have been dropping from 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.