LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Restaurants, bars and other retail businesses can reopen in much of northern Michigan starting Friday, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced Monday — a key step for the tourism-dependent region before the Memorial Day weekend and summer season.
Bars and restaurants, which have only been able to do pickup and delivery, will have to limit capacity to 50%. Groups will be required to stay 6 feet apart, and servers will have to wear face coverings. Office business also will be able resume if work cannot be done remotely.
The governor’s latest order keeps closed other places of public accommodation such as movie theaters, gyms and hair salons in all 83 counties, at least through May 28.
Whitmer called the partial reopening of northern Michigan a “big step,” but urged people to not “go rushing out.” She recommended that residents considering visiting the Upper Peninsula or a 17-county region of the northern Lower Peninsula — which are home to 7.5% of the state’s 10 million people — to “think long and hard.”
“The whole state is watching to make sure we get this right,” said Whitmer, a Democrat who has been criticized by Republican lawmakers for not earlier restarting sectors by region. “If we get this right, we will be able to take the next step.”
Whitmer also issued an order requiring businesses planning to resume in-person work to develop a COVID-19 preparedness and response plan and make it available to employees and customers by June 1.
The state on Monday reported 24 additional deaths related to COVID-19, raising the total to 4,915.
Whitmer’s move applies to two of the eight regions established as part of her “MI Safe Start” plan. She pointed to their low numbers of new cases and deaths per day compared to the statewide average. About 79% of deaths statewide are from three counties in metro Detroit.
