LANSING, Mich. — Michigan will fully lift outdoor capacity limits on June 1 and, starting July 1, end indoor gathering caps that were put in place to curb COVID-19.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced the major loosening of economic restrictions on Thursday. The state has limited occupancy in restaurants and other venues since March 2020, when the coronavirus first hit.
The announcement came nearly a week after the governor’s administration eased a mask order due to updated federal guidance.
"Soon, Michiganders will be able to celebrate together, have summer weddings and even enjoy a 4th of July barbeque with family and friends," Whitmer said. "This is what we have all been working so hard towards, and I am so grateful to every Michigander who continues to go above and beyond to keep themselves, their family, and our communities safe."
To reflect these changes, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), will release an updated epidemic order on Monday. The state said, throughout the month of June, people who are not yet fully vaccinated will still be required to mask up while indoors.
In West Michigan, vaccination rates are on the rise as COVID-19 positivity rates and cases also decline.
Dr. Adam London, director of the Kent County Health Department, said they are "certainly encouraged by the reality that our community and our state is getting closer to the end of this terrible pandemic." However, he also urged vaccinations, and for people to still take the virus seriously amid changes in restrictions.
"Right now, we still have people in intensive care units here in Grand Rapids," said London, "We still have people who are dying every day from COVID-19. Many of those infections are preventable, but we need people take it seriously. We really need people to to get a vaccine who haven't. And if they're not going to get vaccinated, we really need them, at least while our numbers are still reasonably high with new cases and deaths, we need to be responsive around other people."
London said Kent County is nearing 60% of eligible people vaccinated. The goal is 70%. Yet, there is a challenge to reaching that goal: vaccine hesitancy.
"The science right now tells us that vaccinated people are very, very unlikely to transmit or to pick up an infection," said London, "It's the unvaccinated persons that can still spread it amongst themselves."
Meanwhile, businesses and event planners in Grand Rapids are pleased to have some definitive dates to work with this summer.
The optimism on our team is we're cheering today," said Janet Korn, Senior Vice President of Experience Grand Rapids, "Because now, we can really confirm the business that we still have secured for this year. And we can move forward with safely hosting the means meetings and conferences."
Korn said it has been a challenge not only trying to book events in Grand Rapids this spring and summer, but navigating when and what capacity restrictions would be in place.
Plus, tourism is a huge industry in Grand Rapids. Even spaces are now also able to book meetings, weddings, and more events.
"As these businesses have been virtually restricted for almost 15 months, and not being able to host people's life celebrations, our conferences and meetings that are really important to the economy of our area," said Korn, "And they're actually important to people's businesses. The networking, the connections that people make at these business events, is really critical to their economy and their success of their organizations."
Baker said there is a lot of optimism among business leaders, but a lot to do. One of those challenges includes finding talent.
"We're hoping that the community will give our businesses a little bit of grace as they reopen under some challenging circumstances," said Baker.
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