On today’s show for Monday, March 30, 2020:
As of this recording the state numbers for confirmed Coronavirus cases in the state is 6,498 with 184 deaths. The city of Detroit is a major center, with Oakland county’s deaths doubling overnight. Field hospitals are being considered for three locations in Oakland County.
On Sunday MIchigan State Representative Isaac Robinson, who served Detroit, died. Coronavirus is the suspected cause of death. He was 43.
Updates from Governor Gretchen Whitmer: The Coronavirus is spreading quickly through the prison systems in Michigan, so some non-violent prisoners may be released.
The state government is enacting a hiring freeze and is shutting down all non-discretionary spending until further notice.
It is expected that conditions in Michigan will get much worse before they get better. We are weeks away from a peak in the number of cases of Coronavirus in Michigan.
Monroe based La-Z-Boy Furniture is furloughing 6,800 employees. In national news, Macy’s is going to furlough nearly 130,000 people. And Wednesday workers at Detroit’s three casinos will get their last paychecks until after the pandemic clears. Their benefits with copay will run through the end of June.
GM says production is on track to start this week at a factory in Warren to make level-1 surgical masks.
The TCF Center is going to be turned into a two-level, 900 bed hospital as the city and region braces for even more Coronavirus hospitalizations. This means the auto show will be canceled in 2020.
Sven Gustafson speaks to Greg Migliore, the Editor in Chief of Auto Blog about the NAIAS (North American International Auto Show) being canceled, the impact, and the future of auto shows in general.
And, finally, we all need something to uplift us. Jer speaks to the women behind Lullabies from Detroit about how it came about. Follow their page here.
