KALAMAZOO — Ascension Borgess Hospital in Kalamazoo asked for emergency approval Wednesday to add 105 beds in anticipation of a surge in COVID-19 patients.

Trinity Health, the parent corporation of Mercy Health, plans to temporarily furlough about 2,500 mostly non-clinical employees over the next few weeks.

GRAND RAPIDS — Restaurant operator Meritage Hospitality Group Inc. today suspended financial guidance and postponed its annual meeting that had been scheduled for May 19.

Hospitals in the region plan to add hundreds of beds in anticipation of a surge of patients from the COVID-19 pandemic, MiBiz has learned.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s latest executive order grants hospitals and other care providers greater flexibility in how they use staff and students to treat COVID-19 patients.

The historic $2 trillion federal economic stimulus bill signed into law Friday contains $350 billion in loans for small businesses that could transition into grants.

Since the beginning of the coronavirus and COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals and other health care providers have urged people with symptoms to use telemedicine first to connect with a doctor.

Small businesses that have been slammed by the coronavirus pandemic and expect to have difficulty making commercial loan payments should call their bankers now to work out possible adjustments.

The COVID-19 pandemic that’s swept the nation adds a new issue for business succession and transition planning.

Experts say many business owners don’t plan for their eventual exit until they are ready to leave or have begun to see the day they depart.

Now that so many people are working from their basements or spare bedrooms, or like me have a rickety desk setup off to the side in the living room, I want to say: Welcome.

The abrupt disruption in daily routines and work lives has surely raised the anxiety level for people, on top of what they may already feel from the COVID-19 pandemic.

GRAND RAPIDS — Spectrum Health has moved beds and equipment into Grand Valley State University’s Cook-DeVos Center for Health Sciences in preparation for a surge in patients from the COVID-19 pandemic.

GRAND RAPIDS — As the coronavirus pandemic spread to Michigan, Norman Beauchamp saw a need and an opportunity to coordinate manufacturers locally to supply equipment and supplies to hospitals expecting a surge in patients.

Leaders of the Small Business Association of Michigan voiced frustration Wednesday with what they consider a lack of clarity on what businesses can stay open under the governor’s stay-home order this week, as well as how it gets enforced.

The state now asks businesses and residents to donate essential medical supplies and protective gear to hospitals and other care providers.

GRAND RAPIDS — Spectrum Health and Metro Health today became the latest health systems to appeal for donation of medical supplies.

Michigan business organizations were publicly supportive of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s stay-home order, although they surely want more clarity on how to proceed.

In issuing today’s order for residents to stay home and non-essential businesses to close, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer seeks to give hospitals a better chance to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

KALAMAZOO — Bronson Healthcare intends to open four locations today in the Kalamazoo area to accept donations of personal protective equipment and disinfecting supplies.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer today ordered hospitals, outpatient surgery centers, state-operated facilities and dental offices to postpone all “non-essential” procedures as soon as possible and for as long as a state of emergency remains in effect from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The U.S. Small Business Administration promises to decide as quickly as possible on loan applications from small businesses hurt by the coronavirus and COVID-19 pandemic.

University of Michigan economists expect the coronavirus and COVID-19 pandemic to drive the U.S. economy into recession for the second quarter.

The state intends to create two funds totaling $20 million to support grants and low-interest loans to small businesses that had to close or have been disrupted by the coronavirus and COVID-19 pandemic.

ZEELAND — Herman Miller Inc. says it’s unable to predict sales for the present quarter because of the coronavirus pandemic that has created a “high degree of uncertainty throughout the global economy.”

Fifth Third Bank plans a number of immediate moves to ease the financial burden on small business and consumers hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

Gov. Gretchen Whitemer’s latest executive order on the coronavirus pandemic would give hospitals greater ability to ramp up capacity and open temporary centers to care for a surge in patients.