A COVID memorial quilt made to honor those we’ve lost to the Coronavirus is finished and hanging on display at Cherry Country Quilters in Suttons Bay. The store, owned by Linda Mead, who died of COVID in late 2020, will close on Oct. 16. Cherry Country Quilters is currently holding a going-out-of-business sale.
Art’s Tavern in Glen Arbor is a go-to spot for burgers, beers and—if you’re in the mood—shots of liquor. On Wednesday, May 5, from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. it’s also a great spot to receive free COVID-19 vaccination shots. No appointments are necessary. Staff from the Benzie-Leelanau District Health Department will be on hand to administer Moderna and Johnson & Johnson shots to anyone age 18 or older.
Fifty-three percent of eligible residents, 16 and older, in Leelanau County are fully vaccinated with either two shots from Pfizer or Moderna or one shot from Johnson & Johnson, according to a Michigan.gov dashboard. That’s the highest percentage of any county in the state. More than 67 percent have received at least one dose.
Josephine Gorman, a 16-year-old student from St. Francis High School in Traverse City received the 15,000th dose of a COVID-19 vaccine administered by the Benzie-Leelanau District Health Department. Gorman got the shot Friday, April 23, at Glen Lake School, accompanied by her mother Jennifer.
In prosperous, care-free times, public health workers seem almost invisible. Because their job is to prevent health crises from happening, they remain in the background. Few people learn about their true impact. But when the COVID-19 global pandemic officially hit Michigan in March 2020, the public health department, nurses, doctors, and hospital workers suddenly played an outsized role in coaching us on how to survive this deadly pathogen, which as of April 12 has infected 1,107 in Leelanau County and claimed 16 lives. Here are the stories of a few local public health workers who have led our community response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Benzie-Leelanau District Health Department will offer a COVID-19 vaccination clinic on Tuesday, April 13, at Frankfort Trinity Lutheran Church, and provide Moderna shots. As of Monday evening, appointments were still available. Click here to schedule your slot.
Today the Benzie-Leelanau District Health Department (BLDHD) reported 21 new cases of COVID-19 in Leelanau County and 12 in Benzie County. Since Friday, April 2, BLDHD has reported 81 cases in Leelanau and 44 cases in Benzie.
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore attracted a whopping 86,944 visitors during the first three months of 2021. That early number suggests another record-breaking year for visitation to the National Lakeshore.
Here in Burdickville on Glen Lake, Mike Binsfeld was crushed by the news of John Prine’s death one year ago today. Both of Binsfeld’s daughters had just recovered from COVID, Nancy in Colorado and Molly in California, and Mike and his wife Mindy were just emerging from the trauma of not being able to travel to their sick children because of the lockdown and not knowing just why they were sick nor how dangerous the disease could be. Mike woke up the next day with a song sliding around in his head, and so now we have his moving ode to John Prine called “Six Feet Away.”
The League of Women Voters Leelanau County invites the public to participate in a virtual educational forum, “The Impact of COVID-19 on Agriculture in Leelanau County” on Wednesday, April 7 at noon.