Monday News Hit: Covid cases tied to Romulus strip club, 0 new deaths on Sunday, family of 5 hurt by gunfire
Michigan's game of whack-a-mole for coronavirus spikes continues, with health experts identifying a Wayne County strip club as being a potential site for more than a dozen COVID-19 cases. On Sunday, the Wayne County public health officer reported at least 12 cases have been linked to the Romulus Playhouse Club and another case came from a Checkers restaurant from the same city.
In what should start sounding more like a rinse-and-repeat narrative than a novel process, health experts ask those that have tested positive quarantine for 15 days. For anyone who hasn't tested positive but is concerned about the possibility they were exposed, the timeline to look out for is between June 17 and July 1 at the playhouse club, and June 27 to July 4 at the fast-food chain.
If recent outbreaks around the state are any indication of what comes next, metro Detroit could be facing its own uptick in new COVID-19 cases in the coming days. For the nightmare that just won't end for one East Lansing bar, cases linked to Harper's Brew Pub have now climbed to 158 cases. Oakland County health officials are closely monitoring a potential case outbreak from a Royal Oak bar, where three people who have tested positive say they were at the crowded establishment and possibly infected others.
The Playhouse Club in Romulus isn't Harper's or Fifth Avenue, however. Instead of hundreds of individuals crowding in one establishment, the number of people in attendance is lower. But the virus appears to have an easier time spreading in closed spaces, potentially moving quicker with the aid of air conditioning units now running amid a hot start to the summer. And as 27 people who weren't at Harper's but caught the virus from someone who was can attest, it can spread easily.
The Ingham County health official tracking those cases told the Detroit Free Press those infections had spread to Metro Detroit and other mid-Michigan counties.
Even with the small surge in new cases, Michigan had one of its best days since the coronavirus outbreak started in March - no new deaths linked to the virus were reported on Sunday. Since the number of deaths reported per day spiked in early April, a gradual curve declining over months has taken shape on our graph showcasing deaths.
Daily reports have fluctuated between dozens of new deaths to just one or two. On Sunday, zero people died from the virus. That hasn't happened since the first death was reported in Michigan, back on March 18.
Health experts emphasized for the first few months of the outbreak the need to flatten the curve - to lower the spread of the infection. If done successfully, it would ensure the state's health care infrastructure didn't buckle after reaching capacity on ventilators, personal protective equipment, or available beds. While the state came close during its peak, the state has regained its footing.
That's the statewide battle raging across many southern states that lifted restrictions on business and travel earlier in the year. In Texas, rising coronavirus hospitalizations have people in its largest urban centers worried intensive care capacities could be filling up. The state also tallied a record high number of new cases on Sunday.
That's the same story playing out in Florida, which reported more than 59,000 cases in just the last week. For context, the total number of people who contracted the virus in Michigan since the first case adds up to more than 65,000 cases. Florida is a bigger state that Michigan, but its spread of infection is vastly outpacing that of most others in the U.S. Florida also had the highest jump in weekly hospitalizations in the past week as well. In one county with almost a million residents, the Tampa Bay Times says its four hospitals have completely run out of ICU beds.
Family of five injured by gunfire, mother dead
A bloody holiday weekend in Detroit included a particularly harrowing shooting that happened Saturday morning when a family of five were all struck by gunfire. Four would suffer injuries and their mom would die.
Close to Mexican Town, residents in the neighborhood on Homer near Mullane said crime and gun violence is nothing new. But the latest drive-by shooting has left many shaken up.
As a family was driving back from a party early Saturday morning, three vehicles passed by and someone started shooting, hitting everyone in the family's vehicle.
“I was already in bed when I heard the shots it happens all the time they are always firing guns and everything,” said a man who didn't want to be on camera.
The woman who died was 39 years old. The 40-year-old man and three boys, ages 15,12, and 9 were all hurt in the crossfire.
Daily Forecast
Next weekend will be cooler than the holiday break, but first comes the second half of a brutal heatwave. Temperatures are expected to hit 92 on Monday.
Confederate flag losing prominence 155 years after Civil War
Long a symbol of pride to some and hatred to others, the Confederate battle flag is losing its place of official prominence 155 years after rebellious Southern states lost a war to perpetuate slavery.
Mississippi's Republican-controlled Legislature voted Sunday to remove the Civil War emblem from the state flag, a move that was both years in the making and notable for its swiftness amid a national debate over racial inequality following the police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota. Mississippi's was the last state flag to include the design.
NASCAR, born in the South and still popular in the region, banned the rebel banner from races earlier this month, and some Southern localities have removed memorials and statues dedicated to the Confederate cause. A similar round of Confederate flag and memorial removals was prompted five years ago by the slaying of nine Black people at a church in Charleston, South Carolina. A white supremacist was convicted of the shooting.