Late Tuesday evening, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) issued a revised Gatherings and Face Mask Order that uses targeted loosening of restrictions to encourage vaccination and outdoor activities. The new order goes into effect Thursday, May 6, and continues through Monday, May 31.
Under this new order:
- Masks are generally not required outdoors unless a gathering has 100 or more people
- Anyone who is fully vaccinated and not experiencing symptoms is not required to wear a mask at residential gatherings, including indoors.
- Organized sports no longer requires routine COVID-19 testing for fully vaccinated participants if they are asymptomatic.
- Masks continue to be required for contact sports but masks are no longer required outdoors during active practice and competition for non-contact sports. For example, softball and baseball players will be required to wear a mask in the dugout but not when at bat or playing first base. (See MDHHS Interim Guidance for Athletics for more details.)
Additionally, the order permits more people to participate in outdoor events if they are held at facilities with larger fixed seating capacity or in large venues without fixed seating. This includes:
- Large outdoor events, including festivals, fairs, and golf tournaments will be able to exceed the current 1,000-person limit so long as they create and post a safety plan consistent with the MDHHS Large Outdoor Event Guidance, and no more than 20 persons per 1,000 square feet are gathered in any space available to patrons.
- Outdoor stadiums and arenas:
- Stadiums complying with enhanced protocols will continue to be allowed to operate at 20% of their fixed seating capacity.
- Otherwise, for stadiums or arenas with a fixed seating capacity of 5,000 or greater without enhanced protocols 1,000 patrons may be gathered.
- For stadiums or arenas with a fixed seating capacity of 10,000 or greater without enhanced protocols 1,500 patrons may be gathered.
- Residential outdoor gatherings are allowed up to 50 people. Or, where density does not exceed 20 persons per 1,000 square feet of usable outdoor space, up to 300 people may be gathered.
In addition to this new order, MDHHS issued a raft of additional or updated guidance documents that covers everything from end-of-year gatherings (updated) to athletics (new) to large outdoor gatherings (also new). They also released the usual set of infographics to help explain the order. We've linked all of these resources below.
MASSP will continue to keep members updated as additional guidance is released relative to this new order.
NEW - Large Outdoor Event Guidance
NEW - Interim Guidance for Athletics
UPDATED - End-of-Year Events Guidance
UPDATED - Capacity Limits Fact Sheet