Frequent hand-washing is Rule No. 1 in containing the coronavirus. That’s hard to do, of course, for thousands of residents without running water in Detroit.

That’s prompting renewed calls for Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to halt the shutoffs that last year disconnected 23,500 residential customers for nonpayment. As of Jan. 15, 9,500 of those were still without water, according to records obtained by Bridge Magazine.

On Friday, groups including the Sierra Club of Michigan, Michigan Welfare Rights Organization and We the People of Detroit petitioned Whitmer to declare a public health crisis and impose a moratorium on the shutoffs.

The request came one day after Whitmer denied a similar request — which didn’t mention coronavirus — from the ACLU and as the Detroit City Council studies whether to seek a similar request.

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