Progress Made In Detroit Coronavirus Fight, But Mayor Cautious

DETROIT, MI — The city has seen an improvement in its coronavirus numbers in recent days, but Mayor Mike Duggan is urging residents not to become lackadaisical in their precautionary efforts.

Speaking to residents on Monday, Duggan said southeast Michigan hospitals are reporting a decrease in patients who are positive for the new coronavirus. He added that a field hospital set up at the TCF Center, formerly the Cobo Center, has also seen a decrease in patients.

"The progress is great, but we're in a dangerous time," Duggan said. "If you look at the pattern in other countries, we have dramatically bent the curve.

"But every place in the world, when people started to pat themselves on the back and said, 'This is under control, we can relax,' they've seen a significant spike. And we just can't afford that in the city."

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Duggan said the city has reported 47 deaths in the past three days, a number much lower than what it has posted over the course of the pandemic. However, those numbers could be deceiving. Duggan said weekend numbers can oftentimes be misleading due to hospital reports being delayed or incomplete.

"The numbers are heading in the right direction, but we're not going to draw any conclusions on a Monday. We'll see how things look on Tuesday or Wednesday," he said.

Nursing Home Testing

More than 1,000 nursing home patients in Detroit have been tested for the coronavirus in the last 10 days, Duggan said. The effort — which includes the use of a 15-minute test for the virus — was announced last week shortly after its inception.

Duggan said more than 100 people who have died from the coronavirus in the city were residing in nursing homes. Roughly 28 percent of all nursing home patients tested are positive for the virus, Duggan said.

"Probably the most troubling thing is those without symptoms are testing positive and almost at a higher rate than those with symptoms," he said.

The city has begun delivering personal protection equipment to nursing home staff that were in short supply, an act to give nursing homes "the tools to fight back" against the virus, Duggan said.

Detroit Police Department

Nearly 900 Detroit Police officers are back to work after either testing positive for or being put in quarantine for the coronavirus, Duggan said Monday.

Last week it was announced that Chief James Craig had returned to duty after recovering from the illness.