COVID measures loosened in specific circumstances

Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced a loosening of the state’s mask mandate for smaller outdoor gatherings, and athletes will be tested less beginning Thursday. The move comes as the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said 50 percent of eligible adults have received at least one dose of a vaccine.

Student athletes who are vaccinated, they’re only administered to those 16 and up, will no longer be subject to weekly testing. Masks will still be required when groups are gathered together, but athletes who are able to isolate on a relative basis outdoors do not have to wear one while competing. The governor’s press release uses baseball and softball as an example. Masks are necessary in the dugout, but not when players have taken the field.

Any outdoor gathering of fewer than 100 people no longer falls under an Epidemic Order issued by MDHHS.