Military sent to Michigan to deal with surge in COVID as Minnesota calls up the National Guard

Michigan is currently the hardest-hit state in the nation, with COVID-19 cases rising 88 per cent in the last 14 days. The governor, Gretchen Whitmer, has requested federal assistance to help in hospitals, and 44 people are being deployed. In Minnesota, another state struggling with a surge in cases, the National Guard is being brought in to take some of the strain off nursing home staff. Nursing homes in the state are now suffering a chronic staffing shortage with 23,000 open long-term caregiver positions as employees seek better paid, less intense jobs or else quit due to vaccine mandates. Governor Tim Walz has deployed 400 members of the National Guard to work as nurses and proposed using $50 million in unspent federal coronavirus relief funding to help these facilities hire and retain staff