Ayman writes: December 13, 2020 – A FedEx A300 freight plane takes off from Gerald R. Ford Airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan, carrying the first shipment of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for distribution across the US.
You love to see a Michigan company once again stepping up to help our country in time of great need! Head over to Ayman’s Flickr for more pics!
Belle Isle Coronavirus Memorial by Eric Milliken
“I want everyone to look at this to understand what happened to the city of Detroit.”
~Eric Millikin
This image represents the 1,500 Detroiters lost to COVID-19. Families of 900 of the victims of Covid-19 provided the City of Detroit with the photos to create this powerful image. Residents can drive thru Belle Isle and pay their condolences and view all photos as well as the collage made by artist Eric Millikin on Tuesday and Wednesday, September 1st and 2nd.
The Detroit Free Press interviewed montage creator Eric Millikin:
For artist Eric Millikin, this is the ugly truth behind COVID-19 — a truth he sought to reveal in a powerful image commissioned by the city of Detroit, a mural featuring the faces of 900 Detroiters who lost their lives to the novel coronavirus.
Husbands. Wives. Children. Grandparents. More than 1,500 died between March and August, mostly from Detroit.
Millikin created a montage that forms the iconic “Spirit of Detroit,” using the faces of the people Detroiters long to remember.
…”I want people to see the enormity of that and understand it. It’s absolutely immeasurable. These people — they touched so many other people, and they will never get the chance to touch them again,” Millikin said, his voice trailing off as he choked up. “When they see the enormity of it, they can understand — it didn’t have to be this bad.”
You can click to view the photo bigger on the City of Detroit Facebook. Learn more about Eric on his website & @EricMillikin on Instagram.
Yesterday, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed an Executive Order allowing for the reopening of retail, business & office work that can’t be done remotely, and restaurants and bars with limited seating for northwest Lower Michigan and the Upper Peninsula.
The two regions are both in the northern part of the state—specifically, MERC regions 6 and 8, as detailed in the governor’s MI Safe Start Plan to re-engage Michigan’s economy. The partial reopening will take effect on Friday, May 22. Cities, villages, and townships may choose to take a more cautious course if they wish: the order does not abridge their authority to restrict the operations of restaurants or bars, including limiting such establishments to outdoor seating.
…“The data shows that these regions in Michigan are seeing consistent encouraging trends when it comes to the number of cases, deaths, and the percent of tests that are positive for COVID-19,” said MDHHS Chief Deputy for Health and Chief Medical Executive Dr. Joneigh Khaldun. “It’s important to note that these businesses must take special precautions to protect Michiganders. I also encourage everyone to continue to wear a mask in public, maintain a 6 foot distance from others, and to remain vigilant in washing their hands often. This will help prevent a second surge in cases in our state.”
All businesses that will reopen in regions 6 and 8 must adopt the safety measures outlined in Executive Order 2020-91. That means they must, among other things, provide COVID-19 training to workers that covers, at a minimum, workplace infection-control practices, the proper use of PPE, steps workers must take to notify the business or operation of any symptoms of COVID-19 or a suspected or confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19, and how to report unsafe working conditions. Restaurants and bars will also have to limit capacity to 50% of their normal seating, to keep groups at least six feet from one another, to require their servers to wear face coverings, and to follow rigorous disinfection protocols.
Read more at Michigan.gov and please stay safe AND keep others safe by wearing a mask. In addition to it being the law, you wearing a mask reduces the chance of infecting someone else by almost 70%!
Lots more in Daniel’s massive Michigan photo gallery on Flickr.
TONS more about the Mighty Mackinac Bridge on Michigan in Pictures.
Keep Me in Your Heart by Dan Gaken
Dan took this photo of Pooh, who greets visitors at Mt. Pleasant’s Veteran’s Memorial Library while it is closed in the COVID-19 crisis. See lots more in his Mt. Pleasant, Michigan photo album.
Ghostly streets, in color! by Bryan Esler
Bryan took this a few days ago in downtown Grand Rapids. Check out the Michigan in Pictures Facebook for a nighttime photo of GR and see more in his Life under Covid-19 album.
Stay safe everyone!
Detroit lit up in red white and blue by kare hav
Here’s an absolutely stunning photo from yesterday that’s the latest cover for the Michigan in Pictures Facebook page. It shows the city of Detroit from across the Detroit River as it lights up the night in red white and blue to honor medical professionals, first responders & service workers.
They definitely need all our support. The Detroit Metro Times reports that the Covid-19 pandemic is hitting Detroit harder than New York City:
In just the past three days, Detroit’s death toll nearly doubled, reaching 221 on Tuesday. During that period, the city averaged more than 3o deaths a day. And public health officials warn that the worst is yet to come.
Detroit has a rate of 32.9 coronavirus deaths per 100,000 people, compared to 21.2 deaths per 100,000 people in New York City. More than 5,500 Detroit residents have tested positive for COVID-19 — a nearly five-fold increase since March 27. With a severe shortage of testing kits, public health officials believe far many more Detroiters have been infected.
Mayor Mike Duggan has made it a priority to increase the city’s testing capacity. Frustrated by the slow pace of testing, Duggan led the creation of a regional site at the former Michigan State Fairgrounds at Eight Mile and Woodward, where he expects at least 14,000 people will be tested for COVID-19 over the next six weeks. During the first two days, 43% of the people who were tested were positive for the coronavirus. The city is also working with doctors who are willing to see patients who don’t have insurance.
“We’re going to make testing available to every single person in this city who needs [it],” Duggan said Thursday. “It is critical that every single Detroiter have access to this.”
Duggan said the city is now testing 800 people a day.
More than 150 Detroit Police Department employees, including Chief James Craig, have tested positive for COVID-19, and an additional 524 officers and police civilians were under quarantine, as of last week. At least 43 firefighters and medics also have confirmed infections, and more than 75 have been under quarantine.
Read the rest at the Metro Times & see more of Michigan’s largest city in Kare’s Detroit photo album.
Please feel welcome to share photos or info about ways your community is coming together to support medical & essential people in this dark time & please stay safe!!
Detroit’s TCF Center Becomes an Emergency Hospital by Chad Livengood/Crain’s Detroit Business
If you want to get an idea of the enormity of the threat of Covid-19 to Michigan, I encourage you to follow Crain’s Detroit Business Senior Editor Chad Livengood on Twitter. He & Crain’s are sharing some jaw-dropping photos and reporting on the nearly completed 1000 bed hospital at Detroit’s TCF Center (formerly Cobo Hall). He adds that Lt. Col. Greg Turner, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Detroit district expects Gov. Whitmer to ask them to build a second field hospital inside the Suburban Showplace convention hall in Novi.
Here’s a link to free Covid-19 coverage from Crain’s. I also encourage you to take a look at #DetroitLooksLikeThis for a peek into life in Michigan’s largest city as we prepare for the fallout of being on the leading edge of the pandemic. Stay strong everyone.
Michigan in Pictures 