LANSING, Mich. – The curfew on Michigan restaurants and bars will be lifted during the first step of the state’s new plan for fully reopening.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer‘s office outline a new version of the “MI Vacc To Normal” plan Thursday, and Local 4 has confirmed that restaurants and bars will no longer be required to follow a curfew, starting June 1.
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Right now, all bars and restaurants are required to stop offering indoor dining by 11 p.m. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services initially implemented a 10 p.m. curfew in November, and it has since been pushed back an hour.
Masks and gatherings -- not restaurants -- were the main topics of conversation during Whitmer’s COVID briefing Thursday. But the restaurant industry has been at the forefront of the debate surrounding the state’s handling of the pandemic.
“The curfews are dropped, as well,” Whitmer said Thursday. “What we know is that when the CDC came out with this new rule is they have confidence that the science bears out that if you are vaccinated, you are safe to go without a mask in all places.”
READ: Whitmer outlines new schedule for lifting COVID rules
Certain restrictions are set to be eased June 1, while the broad mask and gatherings mandate will no longer be enforced starting July 1, Whitmer said.
“So June 1, and then July 1 -- those are the two steps,” Whitmer said. “We’ve collapsed the Vacc To Normal (plan) because it became very clear that it was important for us to give people sure dates and confidence that we can be safe doing this. So that’s why we’ve reconfigured the plan.”
Michigan’s change of course came as the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention overhauled its recommendations for mask wearing among fully vaccinated residents. The state has also seen steady improvement from its COVID-19 metrics and daily case reveals.