The Republican-led Michigan Senate voted Thursday in favor of legislation that would automatically tie restaurant capacity limits to COVID-19 testing positivity or hospitalization rates, embracing — over Democrats’ objections — a metric-based approach long advocated by the industry.
Senators also split over a GOP-backed bill that would allocate $1.25 million to support county prosecutors who investigate Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration’s coronavirus policies for long-term care facilities. One Republican prosecutor, Peter Lucido in Macomb, is reviewing deaths.
Michigan bars and restaurants currently are at 50% occupancy under a state health department order. Indoor dining has been prohibited twice for several months during the pandemic.
Under the legislation, there could be no restrictions on indoor dining capacity if the statewide positivity rate or the percentage of hospital beds used to treat coronavirus patients was under 3% for at least seven straight days. The positivity rate was 9.8% on Wednesday, amid a recent resurgence of the virus.
The capacity limit would be 50% if the positivity or hospital rates were at least 3% but below 10%. Occupancy would drop to 25% if one of the rates got above 10% for seven consecutive days. Food establishments would close if a rate exceeded 15%.
A similar phased system would apply to banquets halls, hotel ballrooms and other event venues, based on the number of people per square foot.
Restaurants and event centers are “asking to know what the rules of the game are,” said the bill sponsor, Republican Sen. Jon Bumstead, of Newaygo. He said the state owes owners “at the very least transparency regarding the metrics that are controlling the fate of their businesses.”
Democratic Sen. Jeremy Moss, of Southfield, criticized the bill, noting it would loosen contact-tracing requirements and is silent on an existing mask mandate when people are not eating or drinking in a restaurant.
“As the health conditions ever evolve, everyone wants predictable and workable capacity limits. But this bill is not that solution,” he said.
The measure was sent to the GOP-controlled House for consideration. Whitmer has opposed automatically linking economic reopening steps to changing virus trends, though her administration has monitored case rates and testing positivity rates and hospital capacity when deciding whether to tighten or ease restrictions.