Instead of looking at individual industries that can safely begin operating again, a state Senate task force studying ways to reopen Michigan’s economy is looking at specific activities and ways those can begin again, perhaps even before the latest stay-at-home order expires at the end of the month.

“In phase one of work, we are looking at a single worker on a single work site who has no contact with the customer or the general public,” said state Sen. Ken Horn, R-Frankenmuth, chairman of the task force.

That person might be a worker who prepares a residential pool for use or a window washer or a landscaper — all of whom could go back to work almost immediately.

From there, the task force is looking next at the sole proprietor of a business who does have contact with customers, such as a barber or hair stylist, but who could perhaps return to work using masks, gloves and social distancing.

More:Some Michiganders could get back to work with help from new task force

More:Thousands converge on Lansing to protest Whitmer's stay home order

“Then you add in eight or nine people and call it a construction crew, (which) has no contact with the public, but is practicing social distancing and wearing masks and gloves,” Horn said. “ If we can make work as safe as home, it will be complementary to the stay-at-home order. And with that, we’re generating some economic activity in the state.”

The task force also will reach out to business owners and workers, through a website — www.MiSafeworkplaces.com — to see how they can begin operating again while keeping employees and customers safe. That input will be incorporated into a final report that is submitted to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

The task force will update Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake, on the first phase of its work by Friday. Shirkey is then expected to share the information with Whitmer, who extended the state’s emergency declaration until May 1.

That order has shuttered most of the state’s businesses and mandated that people stay at home except for essential tasks such as buying groceries, picking up prescriptions or filling up the gas tank.

The stay-at-home order is designed to help stop the spread of coronavirus, which has ravaged the state with more than 28,000 people testing positive for the infection and 1,921 deaths as of Wednesday afternoon.

Whitmer has said she’s reluctant to begin reopening the economy until there are significant and sustained signs that the number of new cases is beginning to decline.

"I know that you’re hopeful that we’ll be able to reengage our economy soon," Whitmer said at a press conference Wednesday. "But reengaging our state too soon and too fast will lead to a second wave of coronavirus. As tough as this is now, we know we don’t want to go through this again."

The governor often uses the example of the spread of the virus at the gas pump. With more people back to work or engaging in recreational activities, more are likely to visit the gas pump, not only to gas up their cars, but their boats or lawnmowers, for example. Each person has the potential leave the virus on the gas pump, where it could last for 72 hours and infect many, many others, including the first responders on the front lines of treating coronavirus patients.

Horn said while he gets the gas pump reference, he thinks sanitizing wipes at the pumps could alleviate that concern.

“You can certainly wipe down the handles on the gas pump,” he said. “But worrying about germs on a gas pump is shutting down a trillion dollar economy. We can do better than this.”

Continuing to extinguish economic activity in the state will lead to ruin for too many businesses and families, Horn added.

“If the governor truly listens to the advice she’s getting from both sides of the aisle, I think we can start getting the economy back underway. We want to make sure we’re not trying to jumpstart an economy outside of good public safety,” he said "But think about what happened in our lost decade — the great recession (of 2008-09) — when we lost more than 400,000 jobs. If we don’t have a jumpstart for the economy, we’re going to be in worse shape than the great recession.”

The update to Senate leadership won’t have specific dates or sectors of business that could more easily begin to open, but will provide some suggestions on how the economy can begin to be revived.

“When the time is safe, what does the roll out of economic activity look like,” said Sen. Jeremy Moss, D-Southfield, a member of the task force. “We’ll provide a public update on what we’ve been discussing.”

The group, consisting of three Republicans and three Democrats, has been talking with health professionals and business groups, but will open up the debate to the wider public with a website — www.MiSafeworkplace.com — to solicit advice from a broader audience.

“This has been a difficult time for everyone, and reestablishing a workplace where employees feel safe while performing their jobs is a multi-faceted challenge,” the website states. “Your input will help us better understand the needs of job providers and workers as we work toward reopening our state for business.”

The form employers and employees fill out on the website includes information on how companies can safely begin operating again using guidelines about social distancing, the use of face masks and gloves, and extensive and repeated cleaning of the workplace.

In the second phase of the task force’s work, those comments will come into play in a more thorough report that could include workplace rules and mandates that employers and employees must follow in order to be able to reopen, including how many customers are allowed in a business at a time.

The final report issued to Whitmer will be recommendations that don't have the force of law.

The task force’s work is coming in the same week that thousands of Michiganders converged on the Capitol to protest the stay-at-home order as an overreach. But that loud and angry rhetoric hasn’t invaded the task force, Moss said.

“All of the noise aside, I feel good about where the task force is going and the conversations that we’re having,” he said. “There is a lot of political noise that could distract us from our work, but we all share a vision of getting to a place where people are back to work. But we have to do it in a safe manner.”

Contact Kathleen Gray: 313-223-4430, kgray99@freepress.com or on Twitter @michpoligal.