 
Updates | March 26, 2020
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Public Health | County Operations - Parks - Spanish
Ottawa County has 18 positive COVID-19 cases as of 4 pm, Thursday, March 26. Positive case counts are updated daily by 4 pm at www.miOttawa.org/miHealth.
Use this flowchart from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services for guidance on what you should do. If you’re experiencing symptoms like fever, cough and shortness of breath, contact your health care provider to assess your condition and provide you with medical guidance.
People need to act as though the virus is present wherever they go in public because we are seeing community-wide spread in Ottawa County and across the state. This is why it is so important to practice social distancing and watch for symptoms.
Since there is no vaccine and no treatment for COVID-19, social distancing is the best defense we have at this time. It will take every one of us to break the chain of infection! Please do your part in protecting our community’s health and well-being. We all want life back to normal and the sooner we adhere to the disease control measures as outlined in the EO 2020-21, the sooner we can resume our lives.
When a case is positive, public health nurses with our communicable disease team do a thorough investigation. They assess every reported encounter to determine their risk level. On a case-by-case basis, if it aides in case investigation and stopping the spread of disease, public health officials may notify places where higher risk exposures may have occurred and ask them to distribute a public health notice.
Providing the public with information about where an infected person may have been will depend on which virus we are dealing with, its risk of infection to the general public and where we are in the case investigation.
Health officials walk a fine line and have the difficult task of balancing a person’s confidentiality and providing public information. We understand it’s natural for people to want to know every location where a positive case may have been.
However, disclosing a location that has no to little risk to the public and does not help advance the disease investigation can create unnecessary public worry and potentially long-term damaging effects to those places of business, worship, school or any other location.
Updated information OCDPH's response at www.miOttawa.org/miHealth
and on the Ottawa County or Public Health Facebook pages and Instagram.
For at least the next three weeks, all Michigan businesses and operations must temporarily suspend in-person operations that are not necessary to sustain or protect life. Additionally, all Michiganders must stay in their homes unless they’re a part of that critical infrastructure workforce, engaged in an outdoor activity, or performing tasks necessary to the health and safety of themselves or their family, like going to the hospital or grocery store.
Ottawa County strongly urges people to take the Stay Home-Stay Safe Executive Order seriously and adhere to it by maintaining at least six feet apart from one another (if you have to go out into public for essential services) and practicing exceptional personal hygiene to slow the spread of COVID-19.
The state released a helpful Guidance for Businesses to help clarify many questions. Guidance for Businesses I FAQs I Factsheet (English I Spanish)
Learn more at michigan.gov.
If you feel you need to report a violation of the order, please visit our website and select the Violation Reporting button to file your complaint. Include the date/time, business name, address and description of the violation you believe is occurring. Emails submitted will be reviewed by an Officer and evaluated to determine appropriate action. We are receiving numerous complaints of violations of the Order, so before submitting a complaint, please read through the order to see if your question can be answered.
First responders prioritize all calls for service and may not respond to every reported violation. 9-1-1 is for emergency calls ONLY. Please stay safe and continue to make healthy decisions for yourself, your family, and your community.
Stay Home-Stay Safe one-page summaries
English I Spanish.
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Small business loans will be available to support businesses facing drastic reductions in cash flow and the continued support of their workforce. Funds for the program are expected to be available no later than April 1, 2020. Visit www.michiganbusiness.org/covid19 for more information about resources for Michigan businesses during COVID-19 or you can call 888-522-0103.
Additionally, the Michigan West Coast Chamber of Commerce has great resources and information for the business community. Visit www.WestCoastChamber.org to get the latest.
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Click here for COVID-19 Resources for Employees and Employers.
The Stay Home-Stay Safe order allows people to ‘engage in outdoor activity, including walking, hiking, running, cycling, or any other recreational activity consistent with remaining at least six feet from people from outside the individual’s household. We want residents to use and enjoy our parks and open spaces, but we plead with them to do so safely. It is extremely important that parks are not areas of congregation at this time.
If it becomes evident that people continue to disregarding effective social distancing while visiting the Ottawa County parks and open spaces, we will have no other choice but to close them to protect the health of our community.
The five busiest parks are Rosy Mound, Mount Pisgah, Grand Ravines North, Grand Ravines Dog Park and Olive Shores. Please consider an alternative destination and with 40 parks and 7000 acres, there is space for all of us.
More information at www.miOttawa.org/Parks.
More information about the county departments' limited operations, procedures
and closures at www.miOttawa.org/closures. Online services are available at www.miottawa.org/OnlineServices.
Misinformation about coronavirus can create fear and hostility that hurts people, leads to social stigma and makes it harder to keep everyone healthy. COVID-19 started in Wuhan, China. That's just geography. Having Chinese ancestry, or any other ancestry does not make a person more vulnerable to this illness. COVID-19 doesn't recognize race, nationality or ethnicity. People – including those of Asian descent – who do not live in or have not recently been in an area of the ongoing spread of the virus that causes COVID-19, or have not been in contact with a person who is a confirmed or suspected case of COVID-19 are NOT at greater risk of spreading COVID-19 than other Americans
Stigma and discrimination can occur when people associate a disease, such as COVID-19, with a population or nationality. Stigmatized groups may be subjected to social avoidance or rejection; denials of healthcare, education, housing or employment; physical violence; and more. Stigma affects the emotional or mental health of stigmatized groups and the communities they live in. We’re stronger as a community when we stand together against discrimination.
Learn more about reducing stigma. Click for the toolkit.
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You are not alone. Local officials are available around the clock to offer support and assistance during the COVID-19 crisis. We are repeating the message to stay in place, avoid direct social contact and help reduce the opportunity for this virus to spread. City staff remains on the job, either from home or in the field.
Read more from the City of Grand Haven.
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Harbor Transit has taken all necessary precautions to protect the health of its riders by limiting services, until further notice. We will only transport riders to doctor’s appointments, daycare centers for essential service workers, prescriptions, physical therapy, mental health and car repair. Trips to grocery stores will be limited to two per week, as a way to reduce exposure to drivers and passengers. Individuals who fall into a high-risk category and need testing should call 911 and get EMS transportation, not Harbor Transit. To help ensure the health of riders we have intensified cleaning and disinfecting of buses. These are done at the end of each shift, helping to ensure the vehicles are as clean and germ-free as possible.
Visit Harbor Transit's website for more schedule information.
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SEMCO ENERGY will also continue performing essential service visits and following precautionary protocols. Most of the critical infrastructure work does not require access to the home and does not create an interruption of service. In these cases, please allow the technicians to conduct their work and please keep an appropriate social distance.
Read more about services here.
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Stay-up-to date on Ottawa County's COVID-19 response at Facebook. Live updates Monday - Friday, and as needed, at 4:30 pm. If you cannot make the live event, it will be in the posts and distributed via email bulletin with the updates for that day. If you are not on Facebook, you can still watch the videos here.
Questions about COVID-19
Sign up for Ottawa County Updates at www.miOttawa.org/connect.
Call MDHHS Hotline 1-888-535-6136. You can also view their Frequently Asked Questions Details from the State of Michigan including their Stay Home-Stay Safe Executive Order
State’s response and community mitigation strategies at www.michigan.gov/coronavirus Alternate languages
Governor Whitmer's Executive Orders at www.michigan.gov/whitmer
Subscribe to Governor Whitmer’s Updates I Subscribe to MDHHS Updates
COVID-19 global outbreak situation at www.cdc.gov/COVID19
FEMA's COVID-19 rumor control information at www.fema.gov/Coronavirus-Rumor-Control
Questions about COVID-19 screening and testing, call
- Holland Hospital (616) 394-2080
- Spectrum Health (616) 391-2380
- North Ottawa Community Health System (616) 935-7810
Spanish Information and Resources
Visit the Ottawa County COVID-19 page at miottawa.org/mihealth then select the "translate" button in the upper right of the page. There are also links to the CDC materials and MDHHS materials to help Spanish speaking populations. Those who prefer Spanish can also tune into our Facebook LIVE broadcasts. We generally hold those at 4:30 pm on weekdays. Facebook also automatically translates the text of our other Facebook posts to the user's preferred language. Spanish Stay Home - Stay Safe
Michigan Small Business Relief Program
The Michigan Economic Development Corporation recently announced support available for small businesses negatively impacted by COVID-19. Visit online
Apply for Unemployment Benefits
COVID-19 Resources for Employees and Employers
Essential Workers Needing Daycare
Coordinated Community Response
Support community relief efforts and learn more at www.careottawaconty.com and check them out on Facebook.
Access resources like food, housing, and other basic needs at Call 2-1-1
Food Resources
Find food distribution locations throughout the county from Ottawa Food.
Student Free Lunches
Transit
MAX Transit has modified its operations. See their website for their revised service schedule.
Harbor Transit limited service information here.
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