Michigan once again set a new weekly record of confirmed COVID-19 cases with 16,362 reported through Friday and still an additional day to add to the count. It’s the third consecutive week to break weekly case records, which health officials say indicates a surge of the virus in the state. It surpassed last week’s record of 13,129 confirmed cases and the 10,241 cases two weeks ago. Before the severe uptick this month, the previous weekly high was 9,768 set April 5-11. Please wear your mask and social distance when you are outside your household.
The Detroit Tigers have hired A.J. Hinch as the franchise’s 39th manager Friday. It’s Hinch’s third managerial stop, after Arizona (2009-10) and Houston (2015-19); he was fired by the Astros amid the sign-stealing cheating scandal that rocked Major League Baseball, which handed Hinch a one-year suspension. At his press conference today he said he was sorry for his role in the Astro’s sign stealing scandal. He said is was wrong, wrong. wrong. Congrats to the Tiger’s leadership team of Chris Ilitch and Al Avila for taking a chance on him. He was definitely my choice. He is young, he is experienced, he knows winning and losing and the ups and downs that come with each. He was a trailblazer in the use of metrics to help with managerial decisions. He is young and can relate to his players. He is the right person at the right time. I look for this to be a long and winning partnership.
It is a noon kickoff on Saturday for the battle of the Paul Bunyan Trophy. MSU versus U of M. Sparty vs the Wolverines. Superior talent and an experienced coaching staff will allow Michigan to prevail easily.
Tomorrow is Halloween, which in normal times is a very big deal to kids, parents and teachers. My parents loved giving out candy to the neighborhood kids. I remember my mom and dad telling me that they sometimes gave out over 300 pieces of candy on some Halloween nights. Even prior to Covid-19, trick or treating in neighborhoods was in a down turn. It was being replaced by organized events within the local municipalities. This year will be so different than any previous years. Even the City of Petoskey cancelled their downtown Trick or Treating this year. I hope that 2021 allows today’s kids to get back to enjoying this holiday like I did when I was a kid and when I was a parent.
I am not very excited about having to add another hour to 2020 this weekend. I was hoping we could just forget about that hour for now and add it to 2021 by not turning our clocks back in the Spring.