DETROIT – With Michigan leading the nation in new cases of COVID-19 Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan is pointing to a bright spot emerging in the city.
He says the number of cases have started to decline over the past two weeks.
“We’re seeing a good trend. New cases over the last ten days were at 500 a day. Last couple of days we’ve been basically at 300 a day. We want to see this for another week or so,” said Duggan.
The number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in Michigan has risen to 793,881 as of Monday, including 16,901 deaths, state officials report.
Monday’s update includes a total of 8,574 new cases and 61 additional deaths over the past two days.
The mayor’s optimism spread to his vaccine distribution program he believes has been a success.
Right now he’s reporting more than 50 percent of Detroiters 65 and over received their first vaccine dose, roughly half of that for the 30 to 64 age group. The mayor is concerned the 16 to 29 age group isn’t responding as well.
He’s changing the system. Instead of calling ahead for an appointment you can just walk in unannounced.
“I want to make sure in City of Detroit every single person who wants a vaccine has access. We want to be the city with the most open access in America,” said Duggan.
One of the other things the mayor said he’s working on is having well known Detroit residents ages 16 to 29 reach out and encourage young people to get the vaccine.
Looking for COVID-19 vaccines in Metro Detroit: Track openings, clinics, appointments 💉
Read: Michigan governor says COVID-19 infections could be dropping