DETROIT (WWJ) - The mayor of Detroit says grocery stores will need to get their employees for COVID-19 within two weeks, or he will take steps to shut them down.
At a news conference Friday, Mayor Mike Duggan said he is "very disappointed" in the attitude of some grocery store owners about getting employees tested — and he's "just not going to put up with it."
The mayor announced that by Monday, May 11, every grocery store operating in Detroit should be able to demonstrate that every single employee has tested negative for COVID-19. He said the Detroit Health Department is planning to issue a formal order on Monday.
Duggan said that if grocery store owners do not get their employees tested: "We're gonna take appropriate legal action, to make sure that residents of the city of Detroit are safe.
"If you aren't committed to the safety of your customers, I'm going to make sure you aren't continuing to operate in this city."
This comes several days after the mayor opened up drive-thru testing at the former state Fairgrounds to any essential employees who's working in the city amid the pandemic. Businesses have been instructed to call to get an appointment window to get their workers tested.
"There's no excuse. We can test you in a few days at the fairgrounds at no cost," Duggan said. "Two weeks is plenty of time."
At this time, Duggan said, the mandatory testing applies to grocery stores only — not drug stores or gas stations — although he plans to get to that point eventually.
As of Friday, Duggan said the Fairgrounds site is quickly approaching 15.000 employees of Detroit businesses tested.
The city of Detroit remains the hardest-hit area of the state amid the pandemic; with 8,473 confirmed cases and 830 deaths at last count by the health department.
Duggan said that while the numbers are difficult to hear, the deaths didn’t all occur in the last 24 hours. He said there's a backlog. “Eighty-seven people didn’t die yesterday," the mayor explained. "There are dozens of cases that are weeks old. Some of them back to March." Duggan said the city averages around 36 deaths per day from the virus, although the numbers may not reflect that due to delays in reporting.
Get more details about testing in Detroit at THIS LINK.