While delaying the resumption of indoor restaurant dining, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Wednesday said indoor exercise classes and some non-contactlsports can resume on Saturday and last at least through the month under her latest epidemic safety order.
The working plan is to reopen bars and indoor dining on Feb. 1. if all goes well, according to the Michigan Departement Health and Human Services (MDHHS).
"We're working on a path to allow indoor dining at restaurants with safety measures, such as mask requirement, capacity limits and a curfew starting on Feb. 1," she said. "We'll have more details to announce on this plan in the coming days."
The announcement comes as some of the Covid statistics are trending a positive way, but remain alarmingly high, particularly in comparison to last past summer.
“The efforts we have made together to protect our families, frontline workers and small business owners are working. While there has been a slight uptick in our percent positivity rate, our cases per million have plateaued and more hospital beds are becoming available," Whitmer said. "Today, we are confident that MDHHS can lift some of the protocols that were previously in place."
According to the state:
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Hospital capacity dedicated to Covid-19 patients has been in 13-day decline, and current capacity is at 12 percent for beds with Covid patients. It peaked at 19.6 percent on Tuesday, Dec. 4.
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Overall case rates are increasing, currently at 266 cases per million. They peaked at 740 cases per million on Saturday, Nov. 14 and declined to a low of 239 on Friday, Dec. 25
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Positivity rate is plateauing. It is currently at 9.1 percent after reaching a low of 8.1 percent on Monday, Dec. 28 and increasing up to 10 percent since then.
Whitmer is pushing to get more vaccines for the state, which is partnering with Meijer to help distribute shots at some of its 120 pharmacies.
