Governor closes all Michigan schools amid COVID-19 scare

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced Thursday that, effective Monday, all of Michigan's public and private schools will closed until April 6 as efforts continue to combat the spread of the coronavirus..

The announcement made during a late-night news conference came as officials said 10 more Coronavirus cases had been reported in Michigan, raising the state's tally to 12. Already, some K-12 schools had begun announcing weekslong closures and others began training staff to potentially move to online learning only.

Officials said all the new cases are are adults — three in Kent County; two in Oakland County; two from Washtenaw County; and one each from Ingham, St. Clair and Montcalm counties.

Earlier in the day, the Michigan Legislature approved spending up to $25 million to combat the virus that is now a global pandemic. The supplemental budget bill, which Gov. Gretchen Whitmer will sign, will allocate $10 million to state agencies for preparedness and response to COVID-19.

Meanwhile, the Michigan High School Athletic Association suspended winter sports tournaments indefinitely. The state Capitol suspended tours and events through May 1. Whitmer this week recommended the cancellation or postponement of events with more than 100 people in a shared space.

"This is a true and real public health crisis at the time, and we need to do what we can to help slow and mitigate the spread of this virus," said Mark Uyl, executive director of the athletic association.

Watch Gov. Grethen Whitmer provide a COVID-19 update on March 12:

The state funding may cover monitoring, lab testing, contact tracing and infection control. An additional $15 million will be set aside in a new coronavirus response fund and can be appropriated later. The legislation also will authorize the the state to spend up to $50 million in federal coronavirus funding.

The state Department of Health and Human Services said Thursday it can test about 1,300 people, up from 300 last week. The state had conducted 135 tests as of Thursday. Ninety-seven were negative, three were positive and the results of 26 tests were pending .

Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, the state's chief medical executive and chief deputy health director, told lawmakers that there is no backlog at the state lab and that some private labs had come online with COVID-19 testing.

"We've known it was coming. But the idea is if you slow it enough, you can prepare your public health systems, we can prepare the community, and we can make sure our health care system, our hospitals, are not inundated with very sick patients," she said.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. The vast majority of people recover from the new virus.

The state Senate will curtail how often it meets while both it and the House will allow staff over age 60 or with underlying health conditions to work from home. Legislators also began introducing coronavirus bills, including to remove cost barriers to testing and treatment and to strengthen a law that restricts businesses from price-gouging essential items during an emergency.

Several school districts in Washtenaw County, including Ann Arbor — the state's fourth-largest — said they will close for at least three weeks. The largest district in Michigan, Detroit, told its 50,000 students not to attend Friday while employees consider and prepare for the "possible extended closure of schools."

Other Detroit-area districts, including Rochester, West Bloomfield, Birmingham and Grosse Pointe, briefly closed or said they will close to prepare teachers for possible online instruction in the days ahead. All of Michigan's 15 public universities are shifting to online classes or other methods for a few weeks or longer.

In Kent County, home to Grand Rapids, schools remained open, although field trips, large gatherings and performing arts involving more than 100 people were cancelled.

With no COVID-19 cases in the Grand Rapids area, "there's not a lot of benefit" to closing schools, said Joann Hoganson, county director of community wellness. Hours later, cases were announced in the county.

Catholic schools in southeastern Michigan will be closed Friday and Monday for "deep cleaning," but weekend Masses will not be cancelled, the Detroit Archdiocese said.

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra cancelled four days of performances of Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana." But its online video archive will be available for free, starting Friday, at dso.org/live "so that we can continue to share the gift of music," president Anne Parsons said.