Grand Traverse County, 16 other counties in northern lower Michigan, and the entire Upper Peninsula are reopened for most business activities effective Friday, with many precautions in place. Restaurants and bars are limited to 50 percent capacity. Groups have physical distancing, employees have to wear face coverings. The governor says the regions have a steady decline in virus cases. Records show they were always low, and some U-P counties had no virus cases.
A governor’s order creates a new Director of COVID Workplace Safety.
The latest report has 24 new deaths and 773 new cases of corona virus, most of them coming from prisons. 6 percent of confirmed cases are Michigan prison and jail inmates. 47 counties had no new cases.
Catholic churches reopen for public masses today in the Archdiocese of Detroit.
Everyone over the age of 2 must wear a mask in the church, there will be no touching and greeting, and pews and seats will be marked off for social distancing.
State Sen. Peter Lucido is asking for an investigation into the policy that sent elderly COVID patients to nursing homes. Almost half of the deaths in Michigan have been in nursing homes in the Detroit area.
Owosso barber Karl Manke says he will open for business today. The state lifted his barber license because he is violating the governor’s closing order.
Capt. Joe DePete, the president of the Airline Pilots Association, says the pilots union thinks the current protocols by the airlines aren’t good enough to protect against the spread of COVID-19.