Friday News Hit: Detroit's grim milestone, the GOP's reopening proposal and a midwest partnership

Detroit's week comes to a close with diverging stories playing out in the city struggle to contain the COVID-19 virus. As the death total rises, the city eclipsed a grim milestone reported yesterday: more people have died from coronavirus-related illness than homicides in the last two years. As of Friday morning, 546 people had succumbed to the illness, while 534 people had been murdered.

The new numbers arrived the same day the city reported 69 more deaths - the highest daily toll yet. Detroit's caseload is approximately 25% of the entire state's nearly 7,400 total confirmed COVID-19 count. Be it poor air quality, working professions where social distancing is unavoidable, not having access to clean water or fewer having fewer resources available to stock up on supplies, society's inequality is on full display in the city.

However, the news came the same day one of Detroit's most well-known public officials recovered from COVID-19. After being diagnosed with the disease three weeks ago, Detroit Police James Craig tested negative on Wednesday for the coronavirus. "The disease is full-time attacking you," he said. "You've got to fight and if you're not a fighter, you've got to become a fighter."

Craig's first few days with the disease weren't easy. He had a fever, body chills, no appetite for days, and felt weak and lethargic for part of his quarantine. Despite the symptoms, Craig said he continued working from home as often as he could while communicating regularly with his Henry Ford Health doctor. To boost his immune system, Craig used herbal supplements, stayed hydrated with water and hot tea and forced himself to eat even without a hunger for it.

Detroit Police Chief James Craig talks about his battle with COVID-19

DPD Chief James Craig is back on duty after the fight of his life.

"I wouldn't give into this virus because it wants to totally consume you," he said. "You've got to move. Even if it just means getting up, walking downstairs, walking upstairs."

Craig joins several hundred law enforcement members to come out of isolation in the last few weeks, as well as 432 other individuals who have recovered from COVID-19 in Michigan. Along with a reduction in new daily cases in the city and state, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said it appears the curve is flattening.

The recovery for Michigan's economy is also being drafted, with a new proposal being released by GOP State Senators that would offer a phase-in approach based on the known spread of COVID-19 in the state. Unveiling "Open Michigan Safely" on Thursday, the framework is rooted in what the lawmakers describe as enough data and experience to allow for a safe transition from working only essential jobs to a new standard of safety in more professions.

The five-phase approach looks a little like this:

Phase 1: Where cases and deaths are rising and the healthcare system is overwhelmed, only businesses deemed essential can operate
Phase 2: Where cases and deaths fall for five of seven days and health care systems are below 75% capacity, lower risk businesses can operate with social distancing
Phase 3: Where cases and deaths fall 17 of 21 days and health care systems are below 50%, businesses can open with social distancing, but bars and restaurants would be limited to 50% capacity
Phase 4: Where cases and deaths fall 19 of 21 days and health care systems are below 33%, businesses can be open and eateries can operate at full capacity
Phase 5: Where there's no active spread for 30 days or a vaccine is available for 30 days, all businesses can operate as normally

How Michigan’s economy reopens is starting to come into focus

Lawmakers from the legislature, senators from Congress and the Michigan governor all announced plans Thursday for what the state's economic reopening should look like.

Similar to the staggered approach that Gov. Whitmer used when she enacted more restrictions over the first few weeks of the COVID-19 outbreak, GOP lawmakers are eager to get the economy up and running again. The timing over when to loosen restrictions has proven to be a point of partisan disagreement between the governor and her Republican counterparts, as well as several thousand protesters that made an appearance in Lansing on Wednesday.

As part of a regional effort among adjacent states to reopen the economy, Whitmer announced a partnership with six other governors in a coordinated effort to start economies that rely most heavily on each other. Joined by governors from Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky, the seven state leaders said they would phase in sectors of the economy together.

"Close coordination will ensure we get this right. Over time, people will go back to work, restaurants will reopen, and things will go back to normal. We look forward to working together as one region to tackle this challenge together,” she said.

Your Daily Forecast

Michigan ends its cooler week with more than an inch of snow on Friday. It won't be sticking around for long however, with warm temperatures expected for the weekend.

Accumulating snow on tap today

Anywhere between 1-3" expected for southern areas

Trump gives governors 3-phase plan to reopen the economy

As regions began partnering in the way Michigan did with several midwest states, the federal branch has unveiled guidelines for how that rollout should look. Eager to get the economy moving again as well, President Donald Trump said "we're starting rejuvenation of our economy again" on Thursday during a press conference.