Memorial Day weekend kicked off with another 452 COVID-19 cases reported in Michigan on Saturday, May 23, bringing the state’s total to 54,365 since the pandemic began.
That includes 5,223 deaths, counting 65 more reported on Saturday.
The good news: The state reports more than 33,000 people have recovered.
Though there are relaxed restrictions now — for instance, group gatherings of up to 10 people are allowed as long as participants practice social distancing and more in-person work and activities are resuming — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has extended her orders directing residents to stay home and stay safe through June 12, with continued closure of places such as theaters, gyms, salons and non-tribal casinos.
“We must move with care, patience and vigilance, recognizing the grave harm that this virus continues to inflict on our state and how quickly our progress in suppressing it can be undone,” Whitmer wrote in her latest orders, saying the pandemic still constitutes a disaster and emergency throughout the state.
However, in northern Michigan, which hasn’t been hit nearly as hard as more populated parts of the state, shops and restaurants were allowed to reopen Friday.
Here are the latest updates surrounding the coronavirus outbreak in Michigan:
‘If people are willing to behave, we have a chance:’ A view of reopening day in northern Michigan
A little boy with a mask around his neck scurried toward a storefront Friday afternoon in downtown Traverse City.
"Mask!" his mother yelled, from behind.
He paused. He raised the black mask over his face. And then ran into the store.
Up the street, a woman walked into the Cherry Republic store to an unfamiliar sight.
Instead of the smattering of cherry-themed free samples, ice cream cones and wine tasting, customers were greeted with a table of hand sanitizer, gloves and an employee making sure people wore masks.
This is a peek into the new normal, as Traverse City and other northern Michigan towns reopened restaurants and shops for the first time since the pandemic hit in March.
Travel survey shows 80% of Michiganders ready to hit the road when restrictions lift
Coronavirus-fueled travel restrictions have many people in Michigan feeling a little pent-up and dreaming about their next vacation.
As Michigan’s stay-home orders begin to loosen, it’s no surprise a recent survey showed 80% of people polled plan to hit the road for a little adventure in the coming months.
Many of those say they plan to take their next vacations in Michigan.
“Taking a vacation in Michigan this year will be more important than ever,” said Dave Lorenz, vice president of Travel Michigan. “Keeping our leisure spending close to home will get Michiganders back to work and will fuel our economic comeback.”
Michigan tests every state prisoner for coronavirus in less than 15 days
In a span of less than 15 days, the state tested 38,130 prisoners at 29 prisons for COVID-19.
Of those, 3,263 tested positive and 18,316 tested negative as of Friday, with results pending for 16,551.
It wasn’t the first COVID-19 test for many prisoners. Some have been tested multiple times to make sure it was safe for them to return to their prison’s general population.
“The vast majority of the prisoners we found who tested positive had no symptoms and were making it more challenging to control the spread of this illness.” Heidi Washington, MDOC director, said in a statement.
Stringent CDC suggestions come into play as Michigan schools contemplate reopening in fall
Desks six feet apart, lunches eaten in classrooms, deep cleanings of every heavily touched surface and only one student per seat on school buses.
Those are some of the suggestions made by the Centers for Disease Control in a newly released guide on how schools should begin to approach reopening this fall.
But as school districts begin trying to process the CDC’s suggestions and how they can be implemented locally, it’s clear a uniform approach is unlikely.
Michigan community colleges look ahead to fall enrollment, consider hybrid course strategies
Community colleges across the state are preparing for how classes might be handled this fall.
At Oakland Community College, over 600 faculty members already converted more than 1,500 classes to a remote environment, according to OCC Chancellor Peter Provenzano.
OCC plans to add more online classes and mostly remote instruction in the fall to limit activity on campus, because there’s uncertainty about where things are headed, he said.
Washtenaw Community College offers over 25 programs with more than 100 courses online, according to the college’s website. However, WCC President Rose Bellanca said skilled trades courses will need to be held in person when the fall semester rolls around, some in a hybrid model similar to what Provenzano described.
“Maybe you take a class and it meets online one day and another day on ground, and you split the class up like that,” Bellanca said.
Flint bar to open next week in defiance of governor’s order
A Flint bar is set to open on May 28 in defiance of Whitmer’s orders.
Tim and Paula Stanek have owned Chilly’s Bar for nine years and they’re concerned holding off on opening back up their business could mean losing it.
“We can’t take it anymore, we just can’t,” Paula Stanek said.
League of Women Voters sues Michigan over absentee ballot access, deadline
While Michigan’s Secretary of State’s latest effort to expand access to absentee ballots was met with criticism from the president and others, the League of Women Voters has filed a lawsuit saying the efforts haven’t gone far enough.
The lawsuit calls for the state to require local clerks to count absentee ballots postmarked by or on Election Day, regardless of when the local office actually receives the ballot.
State Rep. Yousef Rabhi, D-Ann Arbor, also has introduced legislation on the topic, saying current law discards otherwise valid ballots delayed in the mail. House Bill 5807 would require counting ballots mailed on or before Election Day, if received within six days of the election.
Michigan now reporting coronavirus antibody testing results separately
State health officials will now report test results of statewide diagnostic and antibody testing separately for COVID-19, after previously reporting the data cumulatively.
Diagnostic tests show whether the virus is active in a person, while antibody tests show if a person has ever had COVID-19.
The change in reporting methods comes as antibody testing becomes more widely available around the state. Antibody tests make up about 12 percent of all COVID-19 tests that have been conducted in Michigan, and 60 percent of those were from the past nine days, health officials told MLive.
Health officials emphasized the change in reporting will not affect the percentage of positive tests that are reported statewide.
Michigan National Guard helps ramp up COVID-19 testing efforts
Members of the Michigan National Guard are spending Memorial Day Weekend helping Michigan residents get tested for the coronavirus.
The Guard is offering testing in Muskegon Heights, one of Muskegon County’s hardest-hit cities, Saturday and Sunday. Testing is free and residents do not need to show symptoms to be testing.
Guard members will move to Flint Sunday and Monday to conduct testing for Genessee County residents.
Upton: Michigan still needs help. Congress must deliver (opinion)
In a Saturday op-ed, U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, said many everyday Americans still need help and it’s time for Congress to deliver on providing more aid.
“As the coronavirus crisis continues to unfold, our nation’s families and communities are facing extraordinary challenges that require an extraordinary response,” the congressman wrote. “Unemployment is at historic highs, the state of Michigan is facing a $3 billion budget deficit, and thousands of lives have been lost to this vicious virus.”
In addition to providing $500 billion in emergency funding for local communities and states, Upton said Congress must continue to support small businesses and the auto industry and he’s working with Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Dearborn, “to urge Congressional leadership to work with us to protect auto jobs, strengthen local supply chains, and support domestic auto manufacturing, especially now as we rethink our reliance on foreign production and global supply chains.”
Hoadley: States are working, Washington must step up (opinion)
Jon Hoadley, a Democrat who represents Kalamazoo in the state House and is challenging Upton in this year’s election, also wrote an op-ed.
“Record high unemployment has caused many families to draw down personal and retirement savings and some have had to decide between paying their bills and getting their prescriptions, because their savings have been depleted,” he wrote, arguing Congress has shown its priority is corporations, rather than working families, small businesses and state governments.
“Measures taken to stem the spread of the pandemic, although necessary, have slashed local and state government revenues,” he wrote, pointing to a potential $6 billion state revenue shortfall over the next two years.
“Our state’s spending is concentrated largely in public health, education, public safety, and funding local governments. We face deep cuts to those core government functions given the projected magnitude of lost revenue."
Mayor vetoes part of Ann Arbor’s COVID-19 recovery plan
Ann Arbor isn’t immune to the economic impacts of the pandemic, facing a potentially $10 million budget shortfall for the coming fiscal year, and there’s some political debate over how City Council should deal with the crisis.
After a majority of City Council members decided to loosen restrictions on use of some city funds, Mayor Christopher Taylor exercised his veto power on Friday to block part of the city’s COVID-19 financial recovery plan in an effort to protect future funding guarantees for affordable housing, climate action and pedestrian/bicycle safety.
“We should not look here, of all places, for savings. We need to deepen our commitments in these vital areas, not walk them back,” Taylor wrote in his veto letter.
Council Member Ali Ramlawi, D-5th Ward, called the mayor’s veto disheartening and said Taylor is contributing to dysfunction in city government.
Read more MLive coronavirus coverage.
PREVENTION TIPS
In addition to washing hands regularly and not touching your face, officials recommend practicing social distancing, assuming anyone may be carrying the virus.
Health officials say you should be staying at least 6 feet away from others and working from home, if possible.
Use disinfecting wipes or disinfecting spray cleaners on frequently-touched surfaces in your home (door handles, faucets, countertops) and carry hand sanitizer with you when you go into places like stores.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has also issued an executive order requiring people to wear face coverings over their mouth and nose while inside enclosed, public spaces.
Additional information is available at Michigan.gov/Coronavirus and CDC.gov/Coronavirus.
MLive Reporter Melissa Frick contributed to this article.