Mayor says Detroit is ready to reopen businesses, recommends following the city's playbook

Detroit is ready for retail businesses to reopen, as soon as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer gives them permission, Mayor Mike Duggan said Monday.

Duggan also said any Detroiters who want to be checked for COVID-19 can get a free test at the city's drive-thru site at the state fairgrounds starting Wednesday.

The mayor declared Detroit ready for business during his Monday briefing, shortly after Whitmer announced that businesses and restaurants Up North can reopen on Friday, under certain conditions. Those requirements include masks for all employees and cutting seating capacity in bars and restaurants by 50%.

Two weeks ago, Whitmer unveiled a six-phase plan to reopen Michigan. With the exception of the Upper Peninsula and Traverse City area, the rest of Michigan remains in Phase 3, defined as a leveling off of COVID-19 cases and sufficient hospital capacity to meet demand.

Michigan coronavirus cases:Tracking the pandemic

More:Gov. Whitmer to allow partial reopening of northern Michigan, starting Friday

Phase 4 requires decreases in coronavirus infections, hospitalizations and deaths. In this phase, retail businesses and offices can reopen, but bars and restaurants would still have to wait until Phase 5, defined as "continued case and death rate improvements, with outbreaks quickly contained."

"There's no doubt we are in Phase 4, as it's been defined," Duggan said citing figures showing a dramatic reduction in the number of deaths in Detroit since mid-April. The mayor said 282 Detroiters died between April 11 and April 17. It decreased every week, and fell to 38 between May 9 and May 15.

"I am assuming, in the not-too-distant future, the governor is going to declare the City of Detroit eligible for Phase 4 and to allow retail businesses," Duggan said.

The mayor said he does not know when Whitmer will change Detroit's status, but he says businesses should begin preparing. To help, the city and business leaders created Detroit Means Business, which will provide guidelines and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to help them open safely.

"The one thing we're not going to have in the City of Detroit is to have a bunch of businesses open, have the infection rate spike, and have to close them again," Duggan said.

Bedrock Detroit CEO Matt Cullen, DTE Energy Vice Chairman and Chief Administrative Officer Dave Meador, and Clement "Fame" Brown, owner of Three Thirteen clothing, joined the mayor to stress the importance of getting businesses back to business.

Meador said Detroit has more than 36,000 small businesses, which provide half of the city's jobs. He said the DTE Foundation is donating 600,000 masks, 1.2 million gloves and 6,000 gallons of hand sanitizer. Meador said DTE employees will distribute the PPE at Eastern Market next week and that business owners can find out how to get it by going to www.detroitmeansbusiness.org later this week.

"I'm excited to reopen our brick and mortar on Detroit's Avenue of Fashion, and at the same time I'm understanding that our customers' health is what's most important," Brown said. "I am very intentional about providing a safe shopping experience."

Duggan said he is constant contact with the governor and her advisers, but he does not know when Whitmer will declare Detroit in Phase 4.

"We've talked in general, but I would be very surprised if it doesn't come quickly," he said.

The mayor also said the city's safety recommendations for businesses will be voluntary, but he would consider making them a requirement to get a business license if the number of coronavirus cases in Detroit spike. 

Free tests for Detroiters

Duggan and Chief Public Health Officer Denise Fair announced that every Detroiter can get a COVID-19 test at the city's drive-through site beginning on Wednesday. An appointment and proof of residency are required. To find out more, call 313-230-0505.

Fair urged every Detroiter to get tested.

She said that as of Monday afternoon, the city has had 10,394 COVID-19 cases and 1,263 deaths.

City workers continue to test older Detroiters living in senior apartments, and the infection rate continues to be about 2%. Fair said workers making a second round of tests at nursing homes have found a dramatic drop in the infection rate. The infection rate was about 25% the first time through the 26 nursing homes located in Detroit. It is now between 5% and 10%, Fair said.

Duggan attributed that drop to identifying who is infected and providing training and PPE to nursing home workers.

The mayor started his briefing with some good news: He said Pepsi is donating $600,000 to the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan and the Urban League to provide food, testing, contract tracing and minority business support.  

You can watch the news conference here.