Michigan's Temporary Dining Pause Extended By 12 Days

MICHIGAN — The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has extended by 12 days the order that restricts indoor social gatherings and other group activities. The additional 12 days will allow the department to determine the full impact of the Thanksgiving holiday on the spread of COVID-19 across Michigan, officials said during a news conference Monday.

The order means families are urged to avoid indoor gatherings, and only two households may gather inside. People should wear masks consistently whenever they are inside with people not in their household, officials said, and are recommended to pick only a small group to see regularly.

"(These restrictions) follow the recommendations of medical experts from across the country," Whitmer said Monday during the news conference announcing the extension. "They are targeted and temporary, and they are steps that the experts are telling us we need to take to avoid hospitals that are overwhelmed and death counts like we saw in the spring."

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Whitmer announced the restrictions Nov. 15, after the state saw a significant uptick in new cases and deaths stemming from the coronavirus. The order took effect Nov. 18.

Read More: Michigan Restaurants Sue MDHHS Over Coronavirus Restrictions

Among the restrictions, indoor residential gatherings are limited to two households at any one time, and families are urged to interact with only one other household over the next three weeks.

A Michigan restaurant/lodging group filed a lawsuit Nov. 17 seeking to remove the ban, but that lawsuit was rejected Wednesday by a Michigan judge.

Attorneys for the Michigan Restaurant & Lodging Association previously tried to get the court to grant a temporary restraining order, seeking to see an immediate stop to the ban before a formal ruling was issued on the lawsuit. However, a judge on Nov. 20 struck down that request.

Bars and restaurants must remain closed for dine-in service, but can remain open for outdoor dining, carry-out and delivery. Gyms are open for individual exercise with mandatory masking and additional strict safety measures. Casinos, movie theaters and group exercise classes remain closed. Professional and college sports meeting extraordinary standards for risk mitigation may continue without spectators. Colleges, universities and high schools will continue with remote learning, with no in-person classes.

Whitmer told business owners Monday that she understands their struggles, and thanked them for doing their part in preventing the spread of the coronavirus.

"I want you to know I understand the incredible sacrifices that you've made this year in order for us to help save people's lives, and I appreciate you," she said. "We've made progress."

Michigan Restaurant & Lodging Association CEO Justin Winslow said he isn't surprised by the extension, but that he and the agency remain "exceptionally disappointed."

“We firmly believe there is a better approach — one followed by 45 other states — that doesn’t use blunt force closure of a single industry to resolve a shared crisis," Winslow said in a statement to Patch. "We maintain that a more nuanced approach that allows for limited indoor capacity with a curfew will result in greater compliance, better health outcomes and substantially reduced economic fallout."

Winslow said that once the new order is completed, restaurant dining rooms will have been closed for 118 days — nearly one-third of the year. He also noted that the industry has lost over $8 billion in sales and has laid off more than 75 percent of its workforce.

"The restaurant industry is comprised of creative and resilient individuals, but for a growing number of them, this latest pause is the cause of their lost livelihood and well-being," he said.

The order will keep existing measures in place through Dec. 20 and does not include a blanket stay-home action. Employees who work in jobs that cannot be performed from home can continue to go to work, including those in manufacturing, construction and health occupations. Outdoor gatherings, outdoor dining and parks remain open.

Individualized activities with distancing and face masks are still allowed, such as shopping, public transportation, restaurant takeout, personal-care services such as haircuts and individualized exercise at a gym, with extra spacing between machines.

Michigan health officials said three key metrics have been identified in determining whether to slowly reopen at the end of the 12-day extension. Those metrics were described as the percentage of hospital beds with COVID patients, the number of COVID-19 cases and the positivity rate.

With improvements in those numbers in context, MDHHS will carefully reopen, with in-person learning at high schools first, officials said Monday. Next in line will be entertainment venues where people can maintain consistent masking, such as casinos, theaters and bowling, with concessions closed.

This article originally appeared on the Detroit Patch