LANSING, MI (WTVB) – The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services announced on Thursday that contact sports will be allowed to resume as of this Monday, February 8 provided masks are worn during practices and competition.
If masks can not be worn, participants must be regularly tested for COVID-19 consistent with guidelines issued by the M.D.H.H.S..
The announcement from Governor Gretchen Whitmer came after a push by the parents of student athletes that has included protests, committee testimony and a lawsuit challenging the ban on contact sports which was scheduled to remain in place through February 21.
But she told a reporter during an afternoon press conference that the push by #LetThemPlay was a not a factor in the decision and that they were “following the science”.
Whitmer said, “We continue to make progress in reducing cases and hospitalizations, helping protect our families and frontline workers and saving lives.”
The M.D.H.H.S. noted hospital capacity dedicated to hospital capacity has been declining for ten weeks. After peaking at 19-point-six percent on December 4, it is now down to six-point-six percent.
They also said overall case rates have been in a solid decline for 24 days going from 740 cases per million on November 14 to the current number of 159 cases perr million.
Officials pointed out the state positivity rate is at its lowest since the middle of October. It is now at 4-point-9 percent and declining.
