Mayor Duggan Says Coronavirus 'Starting To Weaken' In Detroit
DETROIT (AP) — The mayor of Detroit said Wednesday that the coronavirus is "starting to weaken" in Michigan's largest city, but he also pleaded with residents to keep the momentum going by wearing masks and avoiding large groups.
Health officials, meanwhile, reported that Michigan has had 20,346 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 959 deaths from the disease caused by the coronavirus. There were fewer new cases and deaths reported Wednesday than on Tuesday.
"We are starting to weaken it," Duggan said. "If we don't give it new energy by clustering we are going to be successful."
Cooler weather could help discourage outdoor gatherings: After temperatures reached 70 degrees in parts of the state Wednesday, they were expected to top out in the 40s and 50s starting Thursday and stretching into next week.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said she would announce plans Thursday to extend Michigan's stay-at-home order.
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The first patients at a makeshift hospital inside Detroit's TCF Center should be arriving this week. Duggan, however, said area hospitals told him that the number of new admissions compared to the number of discharged patients was "flattening out."
"It's going up more slowly than what we had seen. ... If we do this right, we might not have to have a thousand beds at the TCF Center," said the mayor, a former hospital executive.
Duggan said he's been encouraged to see people wearing face masks and keeping their distance from each other. Masks are being distributed on buses. Detroit has 6 percent of Michigan's population but has had more than 25% of the state's virus cases and deaths.
The DTE Energy Foundation said it supplied 100,000 masks to area hospitals Wednesday and has 2 million more in the pipeline.
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