Takeout, delivery and outdoor dining are the only way Michigan restaurants can survive during the COVID-19 pandemic. | Norma Mortenson/Pexels
Takeout, delivery and outdoor dining are the only way Michigan restaurants can survive during the COVID-19 pandemic. | Norma Mortenson/Pexels
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer recently announced that the current COVID-19 lockdown might be modified to permit restaurants to resume indoor dining, but Michigan residents remain skeptical, according to the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.
At a Jan. 13 press conference, Whitmer said that she hopes to be able to reopen restaurants by Monday, Feb. 1, but she and the director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services seemed noncommittal and even presented reasons why the lockdown could continue.
Many Michiganders are skeptical that the restrictions will be loosened because the governor has made similar statements in the past, but she has opted to keep limitations in place in other situations during the pandemic.
The governor uses metrics for daily positive test results, hospital bed use and test positivity rates to inform her decisions about restaurants, and those numbers have steadily improved since restaurants were closed on Nov. 18. Despite these improvements, she has not loosened restrictions.
Whitmer cited data showing “an uptick in positivity and in tests” when explaining why restaurants must remain closed. State data shows a slight increase in the seven-day average positivity rate from Dec. 28 to Jan. 6, but it has leveled off since.
The governor added that she is particularly concerned about a new strain of the coronavirus that has been discovered in the U.K. and appears to spread more easily. If it appears in Michigan before Monday, Feb. 1, it could indicate that restaurants will remain closed.
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