Mass testing, mask wearing help Detroit slow virus' pace

DETROIT (AP) — It was March 11 last year when Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan announced that the St. Patrick’s Day parade was canceled because a virus that had already sickened tens of thousands worldwide had reached Michigan.

“All those folks standing shoulder to shoulder for hours, it was a recipe for the spread of the problem,” Duggan told reporters at the time. He said it would be “a matter of days” before a city resident was infected.

He was right. COVID-19 hit Detroit hard. But fast action by city leaders early in the pandemic may have slowed the rampant advance of the virus among Detroit's largely Black population.

Detroit recorded 431 confirmed COVID cases on March 30, 2020, and another 387 two days later, according to the city’s Health Department. There were 49 confirmed deaths on April 1, another 51 on April 9 and 52 on April 16.

“We know Detroit was one of the first in the nation to be hit by COVID,” said Renuka Tipirneni, an assistant professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan. “People live in more crowded housing, need public transportation to get to work in essential jobs.”

But Detroit fought to get its residents tested for the virus early on, and had “a very targeted and robust messaging campaign,” said Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, Michigan’s chief medical executive.

Duggan appeared on Facebook, YouTube and TV, urging residents to mask up, social distance and stay home.

He made Detroit among the first cities in the U.S. to deploy Abbott Laboratories tests that provide results in minutes, allowing police and firefighters to avoid quarantine if they tested negative after possible exposure.

Detroit also instituted free, mass drive-thru testing at the former state fairgrounds. Virus testing was conducted at homeless...