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Not yet, Michiganders.
This is still a siege and the coronavirus is still at the gates. We have done an admirable job of patching the walls and flushing out raiding parties, but if we drop the portcullis and lower the drawbridge in the next few weeks, we are going to be overrun once again.
I know the GOP is threatening to end the lockdown on May 1, but we are not ready. That is not just my opinion — it is the opinion of doctors and epidemiologists across the country.
There have been many posted models that provide criteria states should reach before they start the slow process of returning things back to normal.
One constant is a steady decline in the rate of new COVID-19 cases. A study by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) suggests at least 14 straight days of declining case numbers as the first benchmark on the way to a safe reopening, and Michigan is getting close.
According to the state’s database, the onset of new cases peaked on April 6 with 1,259 and was down to 628 on April 21. It has not been a smooth downward slope — test rates are still too erratic — but the graph has consistently trended in the right direction. The only exception came in mid-April when a slight uptick in Wayne County caused the state’s numbers to flatten out for a…
