Here's the latest news on the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the Detroit area and around Michigan.

What you need to know

Michigan surpasses 10,000 COVID-19 cases

Just over three weeks after Michigan's first confirmed case of the novel coronavirus, the state has over 10,000 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 disease caused by the virus.

The state reported 1,457 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and 80 more people have died from COVID-19, as of 10 a.m. Thursday. Those numbers were 1,719 new cases and 78 deaths on Wednesday.

To date, the state health department has confirmed 417 coronavirus-related deaths and 10,791 cases. Michigan has both the third-most confirmed cases and deaths of COVID-19 in the United States, behind New York and New Jersey. The country has more than 240,000 confirmed cases and 5,800 deaths.

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Henry Ford to lead study on whether drug can prevent coronavirus

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and the Henry Ford Health System announced Thursday that the Detroit-based hospital system will lead the first large-scale U.S. study of the effects of using the drug hydroxychloroquine to prevent coronavirus among health care workers and first responders.

The study is to include 3,000 people to see whether treating them with the medicine can keep them from being sickened by the disease.

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8th Fiat Chrysler worker dies after COVID-19 diagnosis

A Fiat Chrysler Automobiles employee diagnosed with the novel coronavirus who worked at the MOPAR national parts distribution center in the packaging department in Center Line has died, the UAW confirmed Thursday.

It is the second death of someone who worked at that location and the eighth FCA worker publicly confirmed to have died after being diagnosed with the highly contagious respiratory illness.

FCA spokeswoman Jodi Tinson said in a standing statement: "Out of respect for the privacy of the families and those impacted by this situation, we are declining to comment."

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Motown Museum launches online dance party, other programs

Like so many cultural institutions in Detroit and across the world, the Motown Museum is turning to the digital world to stay connected with patrons and fans as it rides out the coronavirus pandemic.

The West Grand Boulevard museum — housed at Motown Records' original headquarters — has been closed since March 13.

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Detroit is first US city to get 15-minute coronavirus tests

The City of Detroit today begins testing its first responders, bus drivers and health care-workers for COVID-19 using new rapid testing kits that produce results in about 15 minutes.

Detroit is the first city in the country to begin using the kits from Abbott, a global health-care company based in Lake County, Illinois, Mayor Mike Duggan said Wednesday.

The city spent $377,049 on Abbott testing kits, instruments, control swabs and bar code readers, according to the city's purchase order dated March 29. The purchase order did not specify quantities for the equipment, but a Duggan spokesman said the city bought 5,000 kits.

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Retailers warn lottery tickets lines are unsafe

Advocates for store owners in metro Detroit are expressing concern about the selling of lottery tickets inside stores amid a coronavirus outbreak, saying it is jeopardizing the health and safety of their employees and customers.

Some are calling upon the state to shut down the sale of lottery tickets, saying it's a non-essential business. They note that lottery tickets can be purchased online.

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Michigan cancels in-person school year

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Thursday that Michigan's 1.5 million public school students would not return to their classrooms this school year because of the coronavirus outbreak unless restrictions are lifted.

Michigan joins a growing list of states to cancel classroom instruction for the rest of the year including Alabama, Arizona, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Vermont and Virginia.

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Michigan estimates that drop in tax revenues could be up to $3 billion for fiscal year

Michigan's economy has crashed because of the coronavirus pandemic and early estimates from the state Treasury Department are that tax revenues for the 2020 fiscal year could plummet by $1 billion to $3 billion as a result, with a further $1 billion to $4 billion hit next year.

Those are scary numbers for a state with combined general fund and School Aid Fund revenues of less than $25 billion.

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Michiganders to Gov. Whitmer: Fix the damn unemployment website

State officials have asked Michiganders to be patient as they try to make adjustments to an unemployment system that is overwhelmed, but, as Michigan's public health crisis turns into an economic one, patience is running out.

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High-profile metro Detroit restaurants are selling groceries stem losses

As the COVID-19-caused economic fallout for the hospitality industry grows, some restaurants are turning to sales of grocery and pantry items as a potential lifeline that also fills an essential need for the community.

Marrow. Voyager. Folk. SheWolf. In addition to being some of metro Detroit's most celebrated newer dining establishments — all are Freep Best New Restaurant alumni — they've also all become limited grocery stores in recent weeks, adapting on the fly to meet the needs of a public increasingly wary of big-box stores.

Thanks to its butcher shop-restaurant hybrid model, Marrow was better prepared for the transition than others. The bar side of the space already included a retail case, and the butcher shop was already supplying its meats and other goods on the online platform Mercato, which allows for delivery as far as West Bloomfield.

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Ordering your groceries online for pickup or delivery? Expect massive wait times

Grocery delivery and curbside pickup services are running days behind — that's if you can even get on the schedule.

Scared to venture into crowded grocery stores in the midst of the coronavirus crisis, people are flocking to home delivery services like Instacart and Shipt or signing up for curbside pickup at Kroger, Meijer and other grocers.

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Hash Bash in Ann Arbor will be virtual this year

People will still be lighting them up at high noon on Saturday to commemorate the 49th annual Hash Bash, but like so many other things during the coronavirus pandemic, the party will be in front of a computer screen, rather than on the Diag at University of Michigan.

The celebration of all things cannabis is going virtual this year because of the COVID-19 that is spreading across Michigan and causing the state to ban gatherings and ordering people to stay in their homes for all but essential business.

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Trinity Health to furlough, reduce health care workers to part time

While hospitals are overrun with sick coronavirus patients, Trinity Health announced in a letter to its staff that it plans to furlough some workers, and move some full-time employees to part time to blunt the financial impact of the pandemic.

In a letter to employees obtained by the Free Press, Trinity Health President and CEO Mike Slubowski explained that while the Catholic hospital system will expand its coronavirus surge capacity by increasing staff, beds and ventilators at hospitals, and expanding lab testing and telehealth, it also must cut costs.

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Coronavirus could derail Cadillac's plan for massive product rejuvenation

New-car sales across the industry have dipped amid the uncertainty the pandemic has brought to the market. Cadillac canceled plans for vehicle reveals and launches in April because of the rapidly spreading coronavirus.

Now its plan for a broader revival could be derailed.

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Macomb County business owner feels pressure to call workers back

Travel back in time to, say, just two months ago and any small business owner would have been thrilled to be viewed as an essential producer in the economic supply chain.

Then the coronavirus pandemic threw the U.S. economy flat on its back.

Now, a Macomb County auto supplier who ran a shop with less than 80 employees before manufacturing was ground to a halt is feeling extremely reluctant about calling roughly a dozen workers back on the job come Thursday or Friday.

"If we really pay attention to what we're all hearing on the news, we should all be home," the 75-year-old business owner told me by phone Tuesday.

Yet, he says, he is looking at the possibility of being forced to call back his people to run production to support Honda, Toyota, Nissan and Subaru plants elsewhere in the United States that were expected to resume production next week or later.

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Oakland County judge tosses people in jail for showing up late

Twice in March in the same week, the same judge in suburban Detroit jailed defendants simply for being late to his courtroom.

Both times, Oakland County Circuit Judge Leo Bowman ignored the risks that the defendants could contaminate the county jail with disease or become contaminated themselves, their lawyers said in written objections.

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Ann Arbor teachers, students use 3D printing to make face shields for health care workers

Students and teachers from Ann Arbor Schools are using 3D printers to help make face shields for health care workers battling the coronavirus.

The project offers lessons in real world application of technology that students are learning. It began when word of shortages of personal protective equipment first emerged from local hospitals.

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