The capacity for indoor meals will increase to 50%, with other companies also authorized to operate with less COVID-19 restrictions.
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Susan Selasky
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Kristen Jordan Shamus
| Detroit Free Press
Restaurants can accept twice as many indoor dinners, shops and businesses can also allow more customers and private meetings can involve more people under a new state health order set to take effect on Friday.
Governor Gretchen Whitmer will announce the changes during a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.
The reversal of a litany of COVID-19 regulations by Whitmer and the state health department corresponds to the improvement of pandemic trends in the state. But it seems to contradict at least some advice from national experts, who – like the state – note that variants of the virus may result in more outbreaks, despite increases in vaccination efforts.
“As we continue to launch vaccines and make steady progress against the virus, we are taking additional steps to engage again to ensure that we are protecting our families and frontline workers and saving lives,” said Whitmer in a statement.
“Michigan is a national leader in the fight against COVID-19, and our fact-based and data-driven approach will help our state rebuild our economy and resume normal day-to-day activities … We all have a personal responsibility to slow the spread of the virus so that we can end this pandemic together. ”
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The state specifically points to three benchmarks for improvement: COVID-19 case rates, test positivity rates, and hospital capacity.
In Michigan, the case rate is currently around 91.2 cases per million. This is comparable to the rate in early October. But there is also some data that indicates that this number may increase soon.
Across the state, the seven-day average of daily cases rose to 1,107 on Monday, compared with a seven-day average of 845 new daily cases on February 22, according to state data.
The rate of positivity of the test is 3.7%, higher than the rate of 3.5% of the previous week. But it is comparable to the Michigan rate in early October, according to the state.
The percentage of hospital beds dedicated to patients with COVID-19 is 3.9%, below the 19.6% peak on December 4. Michigan hospitalizations have stagnated since February 19.
Reversals cover a range of sectors and occur at a time when calls for less restrictions are emerging from the business community to ease demands.
They include:
- Restaurants and bars can have 50% of the capacity for indoor meals, for up to 100 people. Tables should still be six feet away, with a maximum of six people per table. The curfew for indoor dining is still in effect, but this order interrupts you from 10 pm to 11 pm
- Retail stores can operate with 50% of internal capacity, above 30%.
- Private indoor residential meetings are limited to 15 people from three different families. Outdoor residential meetings can have up to 50 people.
- Internal meetings involving people from different families can have up to 25 people. This probably means that public events, such as city council meetings and small public meetings, can be legally restarted in person.
- Outdoor meetings can be resumed with up to 300 people.
- Spaces like cinemas, bowling alleys and other entertainment providers can also increase internal capacity to 50%, for up to 300 people.
- Athletic stadiums and arenas with a capacity of 10,000 people or less can allow up to 375 participants. If the capacity exceeds 10,000, they can have 750 people.
- Casinos can operate at 30% internal capacity.
- The gyms can operate at 30% of their capacity, but the training machines must remain at least six feet away.
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The order is set to go into effect on Friday and runs through April 19, indicating that additional changes can be made at that time.
For months, Republican critics, business associations and others have criticized the governor for not having a specific red line with respect to COVID-19 trends and flexible capacity restrictions.
The restaurants faced two shutdowns in closed restaurants in 2020. The second shutdown occurred on November 18, before the lucrative holiday season. The Michigan Restaurant and Lodging Association (MRLA) was unsuccessful in seeking a temporary injunction for indoor meals to remain open.
More than a dozen Michigan Chamber of Commerce organizations sent a letter dated March 1 to Governor Gretchen Whitmer asking for a “gradual reopening” of restaurants, Bridge Magazine reported. The letter stated that the restaurant industry has been more impacted than others and that it continues to “face barriers to remain in the market”.
On February 1, internal meals could be resumed with 25% of capacity and a curfew at 10 pm. The request was in effect for three weeks, but was extended until March 29. While many restaurant owners were happy to open in that limited capacity, others kept meals closed.
Proponents of the hospitality industry have proposed guidelines that would allow the ability to eat indoors to increase or decrease based on percentages of coronavirus positivity rates.
In mid-February, the MRLA released a plan to bring “normal operations” back to the hospitality industry so hard hit by the pandemic. The MRLA proposed that the reopening of restaurants and bars should be changed based on the percentage of daily positive COVID-19 tests.
Across the country, the restaurant industry has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. In Michigan, according to the MRLA, its industry has seen 3,000 restaurants permanently closed and job losses are 200,000 due to the pandemic.
Whitmer’s announcement easing COVID-19 restrictions goes against the advice of Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who on Monday said she was “deeply concerned” about the potential for a change in the path of the pandemic.
Although cases and hospitalizations have dropped significantly since the peak in January, there has been a slight increase in the past week – both nationally and in Michigan.
“The most recent seven-day average of cases – approximately 67,200 – represents an increase of just over 2% compared to the previous seven days,” said Walensky. “Likewise, the most recent average of deaths in seven days has also increased by more than 2% over the previous seven days to almost 2,000 deaths per day.
“With these new statistics, I am really concerned by reports that more states are reversing the exact public health measures that we recommend to protect people from COVID-19.”
Although she says she understands the temptation to ease the restrictions, she argued that case rates are still very high and that fewer rules would allow them to increase.
“Please listen to me clearly: at this level of cases, with the variants spreading, we can completely lose the ground conquered with so much effort,” said Walensky.
“These variants are a very real threat to our people and our progress. Now is not the time to relax the critical safeguards that we know can prevent the spread of COVID-19 in our communities, not when we are so close. ”
Michigan has the second highest number of cases nationally for variant B.1.1.7 with 422 confirmed cases, state health officials said, second only to Florida.
Contact Dave Boucher at [email protected] or 313-938-4591. Follow him on Twitter @ Dave_Boucher1.