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WATCH: Duggan updates coronavirus response, talks about testing in the city

Posted at 12:21 PM, May 04, 2020
and last updated 2020-05-04 14:36:05-04

(WXYZ) — Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan resumed his daily coronavirus updates on Monday afternoon.

He updated the city's coronavirus response and numbers, and talked about the first day back to work for some city workers.

On Monday, workers resumed duties including park maintenance, pothole and other street repairs and illegal dumping removal.

Updates below.

2:31 p.m.

Duggan said they are not rushing city workers back to work unless it is medically safe. He said some others will go back on May 18 and others on June 4.

He added that he thinks maybe by July or August half the workers one week work from the office and another work at home, and then they switch.

He said he thinks a lot of companies will operate that way until there's a vaccine or anti-viral treatment for COVID-19.

2:28 p.m.

Duggan said it's amazing how quickly they're getting test kits, but he said he spends about 50% of his time on the phone working out agreements for testing, PPE, etc. He said getting those test kits isn't easy.

2:27 p.m.

Detroit said they are getting postal workers tested, and they should've been tested quicker. He said he thinks FEMA will be reimsuring them for that.

Postal workers are going door-to-door, he said, and thinks they should've been treated like grocery store workers because they interact with a lot of people.

2:22 p.m.

In Detroit, Fair said as of Sunday, they have 1,088 deaths and 9,388 cases. The state lab information is down on Monday so they don't have the latest numbers.

2:21 p.m.

Denise Fair said the city is preparing the next phase of congregate testing, and will start targeting senior apartment facilities. There are about 10,000 across the city.

She added that the presence of the virus is not an indicator of poor management.

2:20 p.m.

Chief Health Officer Denise Fair said they are testing aggressively in long-term care facilities and those include adult foster care and group homes.

They have tested 15 so far and preliminary results found about 10% infection rate, lower than the nursing homes.

They have about 22 facilities left to test, and they're on track to complete them before May 15.

2:19 p.m.

Duggan talks about COVID-19 spreading quickly in nursing homes and at work areas. That's why it's good that they're testing city workers, and people can get tested quickly at the state fairgrounds.

2:15 p.m.

Sabree starts talking about the program, and said they're planning on sending out many more letters.

2:13 p.m.

Kennedy urged Detroiters to look in the mail, and if you get one of those letters, take care of it, go online and do what you need to do.

2:12 p.m.

Derrick Kennedy, a longtime east side resident, speaks about the plan, saying he is out from under it.

2:10 p.m.

Duggan talks about the Pay as You Stay (PAYS) program and that Wayne County Treasurer Eric Sabree sent out 4,000 letters to people.

2:09 p.m.

Duggan said that it's National Public Service Day and 400 city employees went back to work – 200 general services employees and 200 DPW employees.

He said because of the city's commitment to testing, they found 20 general services employees had COVID-19 and didn't go to work, and 10 DPW employees tested positive.

2:08 p.m.

Duggan said he's confident the city council will get a budget done

2:06 p.m.

Duggan said he's continuing to talk about healthcare systems opening up to take care of other patients.

He said he's urging everyone to read the letter from Dr. Joneigh Khaldun.

2:05 p.m.

Duggan updates city's numbers, saying they're up to 248 deaths in nursing homes.

Weekly deaths were down to 73 from April 25-May 1. That's down from 145 deaths from April 18-24 and 259 from April 11-17.

2:04 p.m.

Duggan said Ascension Hospital has joined the testing site.

2:03 p.m.

He said the city got another 20,000 testing kits, and that Quicken Loans has 40 employees taking phone calls.

He said Dan Gilbert will have donated around $1 million in staff time running the call center.

2:02 p.m.

Duggan said people in Detroit are being very diligent about wearing masks. He said in the last week, 10% of the people have tested positive for COVID-19 but didn't show symptoms.

At the testing site, he said 27% of Detroiters have tested positive and 26% of people from the suburbs.

2 p.m.

Duggan said they completed the 25,000th test at the testing site and they're doing 1,500 tests a day.

Additional Coronavirus information and resources:

Read our daily Coronavirus Live Blog for the latest updates and news on coronavirus.

Click here for a page with resources including a COVID-19 overview from the CDC, details on cases in Michigan, a timeline of Governor Gretchen Whitmer's orders since the outbreak, coronavirus' impact on Southeast Michigan, and links to more information from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, the CDC and the WHO.

View a global coronavirus tracker with data from Johns Hopkins University.

Find out how you can help metro Detroit restaurants struggling during the pandemic.

See all of our Helping Each Other stories.

See complete coverage on our Coronavirus Continuing Coverage page.