"An extraordinary job," White House task force praises Detroit for COVID-19 response

DETROIT - Amid the tragedy that's encompassed Detroit over the past month was a note of praise for the city and its leaders.

During a coronavirus task force briefing, Dr. Deborah Birx who leads the team said the residents and Mayor Mike Duggan had done "an extraordinary job" adhering to social distancing guidelines.

"We really want to thank the mayor for making sure everyone is receiving adequate health care and testing,” she said during the press conference.

Duggan attributed the gains made by the city to its residents.

"There's no doubt, it's the people of this city who have honored the request," he said. "There's a thousand beds across the street at the TCF Center at a hospital and only 21 one of them have people in them because the people of this city responded."

The TCF Center was converted into a makeshift hospital that would accommodate for an overflow of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 but whose symptoms weren't as severe.

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It's true that Detroit's coronavirus outbreak has begun to slow. A leveling off of new cases in the city has mimicked what is being reported across the state. About a month since restrictive measures were put in place, new cases in Michigan have fallen to a new low in daily totals. Since spiking at nearly 2,000 cases on April 3, less than a third of new cases were reported in Michigan.

For Detroit, the city hit its peak on the same day as the state when 360 new cases were confirmed. Only 103 new cases were reported yesterday.

In addition to acquiring instant COVID-19 testing kits for first responders and establishing one of the country's first drive-thru testing facilities, Duggan said Detroit will have all 2,000 nursing home residents screened by Thursday.