'Time to play': Michigan reopens 15 months after pandemic
DETROIT (AP) — Michigan is fully open again.
After 15 months of capacity restrictions and being hit by the country's worst surge of coronavirus infections this spring, Michigan's restaurants, entertainment businesses and other venues can operate at 100% occupancy starting Tuesday.
Limits on large indoor gatherings such as weddings and funerals are gone. So is a broad requirement that the unvaccinated be masked indoors, a rule that remains in about a dozen states. Unvaccinated teen athletes will no longer have to undergo weekly COVID-19 testing.
Michigan is among the last states to lift gathering caps, which has frustrated the business community. Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and public health officials say the restrictions were needed until enough people could be vaccinated in a state with about 20,900 suspected virus-related deaths. Last year, the governor faced an alleged plot to kidnap her over COVID-19 rules after drawing the ire of then-President Donald Trump. He tweeted calls to “LIBERATE” Michigan and other states that had seen conservative-led protests against stay-at-home orders.
“Today is an exciting, happy, joyful moment," Whitmer said during a news conference at Detroit's Belle Isle Park.
“It’s been a grueling 15 months," she added. "We’ve all been pushed to our breaking points physically or emotionally, mentally. Many of us have lost loved ones. We’re tired, just exhausted. And yet, this pandemic was relentless and exposed and exacerbated so many underlying challenges that were there before the pandemic and will continue to be there after the pandemic.”
Whitmer wants the state’s vaccination rate up to at least 70%. Roughly 61% of residents ages 16 and older have received at least one shot. Michigan's seven-day daily case average, 133, was last this...
