(WXYZ) — Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan held his daily coronavirus update Wednesday afternoon.
Duggan spoke about nursing homes in the city and was joined by Michigan nursing home leadership and a nursing home operator in Detroit.
Joining Duggan was Detroit's Chief Public Health Officer Denise Fair, Executive Director of the Health Care Association of Michigan Melissa Samuel and Ciena Healthcare owner and HCAM board member Mohammad Qazi. Updates below.
2:34 p.m.
Duggan said he "can't imagine" the annual fireworks show will happen this year, but they haven't had any conversations.
He said there's no way he's going to allow crowds of that size to gather.
2:31 p.m.
Duggan said that he thinks some employees will come back to work sooner than others, but any employee will be tested before coming back.
And if they show any symptom, they will go for a 15-minute test.
He doesn't have a timetable of when anyone will return, or how many tests they will need.
2:17 p.m.
Chief Public Health Officer Denise Fair said they have administered more than 1,000 in 21 of 26 nursing homes in the city.
357 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed, 129 deaths and an infection rate of 26% in those nursing homes.
She said they are on-track in the 10-day goal to prioritize seniors.
Next, they'll be turning their attention to long-term facilities, which include skilled nursing facilities and assisted living homes.
2:15 p.m.
Duggan said a special announcement is coming on Thursday at 11 a.m.
2:14 p.m.
Duggan said they have approved 200 companies with 10,000 employees to get tested at the state fairgrounds testing site.
When a company calls up, they are given a code number, which the company then gives to employees.
The employees then book their own appointments and need the code number.
2:11 p.m.
Qazi said that they have partnered with the state to create COVID units, which means they will dedicate entire areas of a facility dedicated for patients.
One area, at a Ciena facility on Chene, has the entire first floor dedicated to those patients.
2:10 p.m.
Qazi said that the city has also offered to test employees at all nursing homes.
2:09 p.m.
Qazi said that Ciena operates 7 nursing homes in the city of Detroit and that nursing home populations are the most vulnerable.
Three weeks ago, he said there was hardly any testing now and staff at the nursing homes were nervous and scared.
He said more testing is available now in the city.
2:07 p.m.
Samuel spoke thanking Duggan for his work in getting the city's numbers of coronavirus down.
2:05 p.m.
Duggan said they have tested 3/4 of the nursing home population in Detroit, and 25% are coming back positive. They will be through every nursing home patient in the city by the end of the day Thursday with the 15-minute tests.
2:04 p.m.
Duggan said they are will soon get people involved in critical infrastructure back to work.
In the near future, he said those employees will get phone calls, including those fixing roads, cutting grass, cleaning up illegal dump sites and more.
"We are going to start to make plans to bring critical infastructure staff back," Duggan said.
2:03 p.m.
Duggan said that DPD's priority 1 response time is down to 9 minutes, 30 seconds, the lowest in many many years. It's making it easier for crowds to disperse.
2:01 p.m.
All of the numbers are heading in the right direction, Duggan said.
733 people have died from the virus, but only 17 in the last day, one of the lowest numbers in the city.
He said the overall trend looks good, including hospital data.
The city saw the fewest number of occupied critical care beds, fewest deaths in hospitals, fewest deaths in ventilator patients,
As of Wednesday afternoon, there were 8,105 cases and 733 deaths from COVID-19 in the city of Detroit.
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