Community Calendar for Tuesday, January 5th, 2021

From studios in the BIC Center on America’s Emerald Isle, this is the WVBI Community Calendar for Tuesday, January 5^th, 2021. 

First, some news…

Governor Whitmer signed bipartisan legislation yesterday that she and lawmakers say will provide alternatives to jail time for offenses that don’t pose a public safety risk—among other reforms to the state’s criminal justice laws. Changes include reductions in penalties, elimination of mandatory minimum jail sentences, probation reforms and lifting a ban on food assistance for people with more than one drug related felony. The changes are the result of two years of study of the causes for the state’s burgeoning jail population and related issues.

New COVID-19 case numbers state-wide continue to look good. The statewide report yesterday covered two days and had 4992 new cases new cases—about 2,496 a day, down from an average of 2,994 over the New Year’s reporting period.   There were 80 new deaths or 40 a day, down from 54 average new deaths a day over New Year’s.  The seven-day running average for new cases is up by to 3,087—an increase of just over 200.  For deaths it is 84—that number still lagging high because of deaths reclassified from prior dates. In the eight-county region we’ve followed from the start, there were 89 new cases or 45 a day, up from 40. There was one new death over the two-day period.  Charlevoix had four new cases and no new deaths.  The lone death was in Otsego. Averages for the region are 53 new cases and two deaths a day.

Statewide there are now 141,670 active cases—down by about 5,000.  Our region has 2,429—down by about 70. 

Last reported average positivity rate statewide is up by almost a full point to 9.2% and up almost two points to 8.2% for our safe start zone.  The rate in Charlevoix county is 2.5%. The C-D-C target is 3%.  Hospital occupancy reports continue to look good.   71.1% of in-patient rooms are in use statewide and 65.1% in our region.  For I-C-Us, the rate is 75% for the state and 65.2% locally. Those numbers are for overall utilization—not just for COVID-19.  The COVID-19 case count in our local hospitals is down by three in Petoskey and unchanged in Charlevoix. Munson Hospital in Charlevoix has one COVID-19 patients, in a regular room.  At McLaren in Petoskey, they have 7 patients–all of them are in their I-C-U. 

On the island, the Health Center reports another two tests run and one back as negative.  There are two tests pending. No new positives since December 7^th—so we are quickly approaching the point where all known cases on the island will be more than 30 days old.

Complete data for our region plus summaries for the state, the T-C safe start zone and the U-P are in today’s script online.

Data from January 2, 2021

Here’s something to check out next time you are across—a Kegger campground down in Bellaire.  Shorts Brewery set it up in collaboration with the town’s downtown development authority as an outdoor place folks to gather in a COVID-19 safe way.  Kegs are stacked three high to make gather places with fire rings in the middle—all to create a place where people in town can bring food and drink to be consumed outside.  There’s a picture in today’s script online.

Photo by Joe Short

Now, a look at what’s happening on your island… 

Meeting planner for the week—just two: St. James Township Planning Commission is set to meet today at 7:00.  B-I-C-S Board Committee of the whole meets tomorrow, Wednesday, at 4:00.

Good news for all you blue light special shoppers out there. On Thursday, the resale shop is reopening. Their winter schedule will be two days a week—Thursdays and Fridays from noon to 4:00 p.m.  You’ll need to wear a mask inside and practice social distancing. If you have items to drop off before Thursday, please call 2797 or 2455 to arrange a drop off. After that, you can bring donations to the back door during their opening times.  For a limited time, there are free Christmas decorations out in Carol’s barn. They have all sorts of winter clothing and gear—plus if you are looking for something to do, check out their new jigsaw puzzle collection and selection of board games.

The Community Center is open this week from 1 to 3 through Friday this week as the staff continues renovation work in the Hangout. Depending on how island COVID-19 data look and subject to new orders from the state, regular hours and movies may resume on the 9^th.  Planned for Saturday the ninth  are Fantastic Mr. Fox at 4:00 and Misbehaviour at 7.  You can check out the schedule for the rest of the month online at biccenter dot org.  It’s also in today’s script.

Keep up to date on COVID-19 news with the W-V-B-I COVID-19 info page. Click COVID-19 Info in the menu at W-V-B-I dot net.

Weather, here there and everywhere – presented every day with the support of Hogarth’s Pest Control:

Today

A slight chance of snow showers before 11am, then patchy drizzle between 11am and 1pm. Patchy fog between 8am and 11am. Otherwise, cloudy, with a high near 36. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

Tonight

Mostly cloudy, with a low around 28. North wind 5 to 10 mph.

Wednesday

Partly sunny, with a high near 34. Northeast wind around 5 mph.

Wednesday Night

Mostly cloudy, with a low around 24. Northeast wind around 5 mph.

Thursday

Partly sunny, with a high near 31. Northeast wind around 5 mph.

Thursday Night

Mostly cloudy, with a low around 20.

Friday

Mostly sunny, with a high near 30.

Friday Night

Mostly cloudy, with a low around 22.

Saturday

Mostly cloudy, with a high near 31.

Saturday Night

Mostly cloudy, with a low around 23.

Sunday

Mostly cloudy, with a high near 31.

Sunday Night

Mostly cloudy, with a low around 23.

Monday

Mostly cloudy, with a high near 32.

TRAFFIC: No, Nada, Zip.  It’s that quiet time of year.  But, roads are snow covered and slick, so  let’s be careful out there. 

BIRTHDAYS:  Brontae Cole, Bryan Timsak and Pat Nugent are all celebrating.  Happy Birthday to Brontae, Bryan and Pat and, if we missed you on that list, happy birthday to you too, from all of us at WVBI and your Beaver Island Community Center. 

ON THIS DAY in 1973 Bruce Springsteen releases first album. Heralded by critics but slow to sell, ‘Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.’ is Springsteen’s debut is a folk-rock spark to a career that will catch fire two years later. (Bing.com)

WORD OF THE DAY: feckless (adjective) [FECK-lus], which means: weak, ineffective; worthless, irresponsible. Someone feckless is lacking in feck. And what, you may ask, is feck? In Scots—our source of feckless—feck means “majority” or “effect.” The term is ultimately an alteration of the Middle English effect. So something without feck is without effect, or ineffective. In the past, feckful (meaning “efficient, effective,” “sturdy,” or “powerful”) made an occasional appearance. But in this case, the weak has outlived the strong: feckless is a commonly used English word, but feckful has fallen out of use. (Merriam-Webster)

Now, to wrap up for this first Beaver Island Tuesday of 2021…hopefully in a feckful rather than feckless fashion…

Here’s a thought for the day from Bruce Springsteen: “Success makes life easier. It doesn’t make living easier.”

On a lighter note: What’s the opposite of irony?  Wrinklie.

That’s the Community Calendar for this Beaver Island Tuesday, January 5^th, 2021. I’m Kevin Boyle reporting from W-V-B-I’s Langford Family Studios wishing you a great day and asking: why not go ahead and make it the best day ever?  And, thanks for listening. 

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