COVID-19 pandemic in Michigan

The first confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the American state of Michigan were discovered on March 10, 2020, one day before the outbreak of the disease was officially declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization.

The Barry-Eaton District Health Department advised people who visited the campground after July 24 should self-quarantine at home for 14 days past the last date of their stay at camp and seek testing immediately if symptoms develop.

[184] On December 18, former politician Bill Bullard Jr., who served in both chambers of the state legislature and the Oakland County Board of Commissioners, died of complications from COVID-19 and cancer at the age of 77.

[68] In Big Ten college football, the Michigan-Ohio State game was cancelled on December 9, 2020 due to the high number of infections on the Michigan team.

[206] On September 16, GVSU was issued a mandatory 14-day stay-at-home order for students by the Ottawa County Department of Public Health, when its number of confirmed cases surpassed 600.

[243][244] On March 20, Whitmer signed an executive order banning landlords from filing eviction requests against tenants until April 17, which she said "relieves courts from certain statutory restrictions to enable them to stay eviction-related proceedings until after the COVID-19 emergency has passed".

"[265][266] In May 2021, it was determined that Governor Whitmer did not follow Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) self-quarantine rules upon her March trip to Florida.

[280] The University of Michigan (Ann Arbor campus) required students to prove they've been fully vaccinated by July 15 to live in dorms in fall 2021 and subsequent semesters.

[281] Michigan State University subsequently decided to require COVID-19 vaccination and masking for all new and returning students by August 31, citing new CDC data regarding the contagiousness of the Delta variant.

[282] On March 10, Attorney General Dana Nessel set up a hotline to report businesses price gouging goods such as toilet paper, meat, milk, bread, bottled water, face masks, hand sanitizers, and cleaning supplies.

[283] On March 19, Nessel sent a cease and desist letter to Menards after her investigators found evidence of price hikes, sometimes doubling the retail cost, on high-demand bleach and 3M face masks.

[291] On April 16, Whitmer joined the governors of Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky to coordinate a plan to reopen the Midwest regional economy.

[324] Michigan airports received a combined $256 million in federal aid to help ease economic hardship from the coronavirus crisis, funded by the CARES Act.

[327] On April 28, Delta announced it was suspending flights to and from Flint, Lansing, and Kalamazoo and several other small hub airports across the country after losing $534 million in the first quarter of 2020 due to the pandemic.

[329] Starting on March 15, 2020, several grocery chains with stores in Michigan, including Kroger, Meijer, and Walmart, began reducing their business hours for cleaning and restocking in response to the pandemic.

[333] Kroger announced that, starting the morning of March 23, all of its Michigan stores would be dedicating the first hour of business on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays to seniors, expectant mothers, first responders, and those with compromised immune systems.

[95] On March 19, the Michigan Strategic Fund unanimously voted to approve a $20 million economic relief program meant to help struggling small businesses affected by the pandemic.

[348] On August 21, the Federal Emergency Management Administration approved UIA's application for funding that would provide an additional $300 per week payment to Michigan residents receiving unemployment benefits.

Four days later, they announced that the season would be postponed indefinitely, after the recommendations from the CDC to restrict events of more than 50 people for the next eight weeks, which affected Michigan's team, the Detroit Tigers.

[356] On March 15, 2021, Governor Whitmer increased the maximum allowed capacity of sports stadiums from 375 people to 1,000, in time for the start of the 2021 Detroit Tigers season.

[364] On July 27, National Football League preseason games, which usually take place in August, were cancelled by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell due to the COVID-19 pandemic, affecting the Detroit Lions.

[28] On April 26, golf courses were allowed to re-open, provided golfers adhere to social distancing guidelines, and stay at least six feet away from people who do not live in their home.

The PGA Tour Champions's The Ally Challenge was played at Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club in Grand Blanc Township from July 27–August 2, 2020.

[386] On June 1, Governor Whitmer signed an executive order that allows college teams to begin workouts and practice sessions for fall 2020 sports seasons.

It allows "outdoor fitness classes, athletic practices, training sessions or games, provided that coaches, spectators and participants not from the same household maintain six feet of distance from one another at all times".

[392] However, on July 30, they announced all preseason scrimmages would be canceled and medium and high-risk sports (soccer, volleyball and football) could start practice but a final decision on whether games would be allowed might not be made until August 20.

[414] On December 15, a protest took place near the home of Robert Gordon, the director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, to oppose the new restrictions imposed by the state.

[418][419][420][421][422] Governor Whitmer's third stay-at-home order, issued April 24, overturned the restrictions on recreational boating and visits to vacation homes, effectively ending some of the lawsuits.

[433] On December 7, in response to the extension of a partial shutdown order that lasts until December 20, a group of Catholic high schools called the Michigan Association of Non-public Schools sued the state in the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan on claims that emergency health orders banning in-school classes and religious training are unconstitutional.

[442][443][444] The Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration similarly issued its own set of emergency rules for workplaces on October 14, again supplanting Whitmer's orders.