Daily life grinds to a halt with empty streets, a rising death toll as coronavirus lays siege to Detroit – MLive.com

DETROIT, MI -- Tiffiney Moses refused to sign her husbands do-not-resuscitate order.

Well, hell probably only live for another two days, so I dont know if its worth it, Moses, a Detroit resident, said she was told by a nurse. I said, Yeah, its worth it."

Her husband, Anthony Moses, a 62-year-old IT specialist who loves jazz and survived cancer six years ago, was taken off his ventilator. His wife said her faith outweighed statistics that indicate COVID-19 patients who end up on ventilators often die.

After nearly two weeks hooked to a breathing machine, the tubes came out and Anthony Moses kept breathing on his own.

Weeks after making that life-and-death decision, Tiffiney Moses leans against an SUV in the driveway of her west Detroit home. Shes visibly excited when the phone rings. "Its him, she says, the words muffled by her protective face mask, holding her phone with her husbands picture on the screen.

They havent seen each other in real life in 35 days. Tiffiney Moses, 54, hoped to catch a glimpse through a window once hes moved to a 90-day rehab facility to relearn how to walk, but shes not allowed visit there either.

I miss you," Anthony Moses tells her in a drawn, breathless voice via video call from his bed at Beaumont Hospital in Farmington Hills. Im just exhausted.

Exhaustion is a sentiment shared by many in Detroit.

In little more than a month, the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic shocked vibrant Detroit to near a stand-still and exposed its socioeconomic scars. The devastation in Michigans largest city serves as a warning to similar urban areas around the nation: renovated skyscrapers, swanky restaurants and wealthy commuters do not protect residents from an invisible virus.

With 922 confirmed deaths as of Sunday, April 26, Detroit, a city of nearly 690,000 people, nearly 80 percent of whom are black, has more deaths than the majority of U.S. states, including neighboring Ohio, Indiana and Wisconsin. More people have died in Detroit than in Los Angeles County, which as nearly 14 1/2 times the population.

Hospitals are strained, morgues are packed, funeral homes cant keep up with new business and the streets of downtown are eerily quiet. Most residents of the coronavirus hot spot city are dutifully avoiding parks, wearing masks in public and anticipating a return to some sort of normality.

How much more real can this get

An aspect of the pandemic that seems to distinguish Detroit residents from others across Michigan is their connection to someone who died or came close. Everyone seems to be no more than one degree of separation from a coronavirus casualty.

Its a monster, said one nurse at Detroit Medical Centers Sinai-Grace Hospital, recalling patients shes watched die.

Though, there are fewer deaths and new patients of late, the casualties in Detroit continue to pile up. The toll rose by 189 in less than a week, from 733 deaths as of Wednesday to 922 be Sunday afternoon. Many families are saying goodbye to sick loved ones over video chats on cell phones and tablets.

Weve actually had to turn cases away (because) weve reached our capacity, said Antonio Green, a fourth-generation director of Detroits 101-year-old James H. Cole funeral homes. Weve just had to let families know right now we cant pick up your loved one until we can clear up some of our own.

If we were to see maybe eight new families a day, probably five of those would be COVID-19 cases.

The funeral home has morticians who have worked there for over 40 years and nobody has ever seen anything like this, Green said.

Ceremonies are impacted, too. Whitmers executive order limits funerals and visitations to 10 people. Detroit health officials are distributing masks to funeral homes in case attendees dont bring their own.

Whitmer, at a recent press conference, spoke about Skylar Herbert, the 5-year-old daughter of a Detroit firefighter and police officer who died of coronavirus.

They did not deserve to lose their child to this virus, Whitmer said. Nobody does.

At least two Wayne County sheriffs employees, Deputy Dean Sevard and Commander Donafay Collins, died of the virus. Detroit police lost Captain Jonathan Parnell and a 38-year-old 911 dispatcher. Detroit Police Chief James Craig contracted the virus but has since recovered.

Detroit bus driver Jason Hargrove died after sounding the alarm on social media about his concerns of exposure to a coughing rider.

Detroit Fire Capt. Franklin Williams lost his life. Forty-four-year-old state Rep. Isaac Robinson, D-Detroit, became a victim. The list goes on.

The Carter family learned how quickly the coronavirus slips into and collapses once-vital lives.

Its the flu on steroids, Democratic state Rep. Tyrone Carter said while wearing Michigan State University gear and sitting with his wife, Lisa Carter, and 23-year-old son, Tyler, on porch of their Detroit home. Petie their bulldog barks inside.

Rep. Carter contracted the virus, he believes, during a Detroit party in early March, nearly a week after having a conversation with Whitmer about how things were starting to get serious with the coronavirus.

The first loss was Commander Donafay Collins, who was a good friend, Rep. Carter said. "We were all together on March 6.

The next week, (Collins) put on Facebook, I cant shake this flu. I dont know what it is. Pray for me. And then the next thing I heard, he was on a ventilator."

Carter began to develop his own symptoms.

It started with the chills," Carter said. "I mean, I couldnt get warm. Under the covers with socks on, my teeth were still rattling.

He developed a 102-degree temperature. Still, he hoped it wasnt the coronavirus. After all, he only had a couple symptoms. He took a few Tylenol.

The next day I was sore, Carter said. I mean, every muscle joint hurt. Then I had the cough, the dry cough. And you cant shake it."

Rep. Carter and his wife, Lisa Carter, Chair of the Detroit Police Commission, were tested for the coronavirus on March 17.

On (Wednesday, March 25) she gets a text telling her that shes negative, Rep. Carter said. That night, Donofay (Collins) passes.

The next morning, Carter received a phone call. Hed tested positive for the coronavirus.

Just days later, Carters close Lansing colleague, Rep. Robinson, died.

It was like, wait a minute, Carter said. her

Tiffiney Moses, whose husband is now in rehab because his muscles atrophied while he was bed ridden for over a month, said her husbands kidneys began to shut down after the hospital put him on a ventilator.

I did not know if I would see him alive, so I was calling the hospital, asking them, can I come and see him, she said. I can dress up like you do ... I dont want him to die and I not get to see him.

" ... You cant get any glory from his life if he dies, because its not like we can have any funeral and minister to the people that come because theyre not allowing people to congregate."

After multiple days of not speaking to her husband, a nurse called and put Antonio Moses on.

I was dead, Antonio Moses told his wife. I saw death, and God brought me back.

Highest cases in the state

Detroit quickly became a coronavirus hot spot - the number of cases in the city surpassing the totals in any Michigan county. As of Sunday, April 26, Detroit had 8,613 cases and 922 deaths. Wayne County, reported separately from the city, trailed with 7,135 cases and 658 deaths. Nearby Oakland and Macomb counties, which help make up Metro Detroit, also have positive cases in the thousands.

Multiple Metro Detroit hospitals had to use refrigerated storage trailers for coronavirus victims. Beaumont Hospital in Wayne used an empty warehouse to store its dead. The governor said efforts by the state to obtain more cold storage capacity for hospitals overwhelmed with bodies of COVID-19 patients are underway.

Anticipation that Metro Detroit hospital resources could be swallowed whole by the virus led the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers to convert the TCF Center in downtown Detroit -- formerly Cobo Center -- from a 2.4 million-square-foot convention space to a FEMA hospital equipped to potentially treat up to 1,000 COVID-19 patients at once. A second similar hospital just opened at the Suburban Collection Showplace in Metro Detroits Novi.

Had it not been for the pandemic, the TCF Center would likely be prepping for the now-cancelled annual Detroit auto show scheduled for June.

Instead, its massive digital marquee thanks healthcare workers. The entrance is heavily guarded by police and flanked by a Detroit Homeland Security and Emergency Management mobile command center.

As of Monday, the makeshift hospital, staffed by 70 workers, had treated 30 patients with 19 beds still occupied, said Michelle Grinnell, a spokesman for the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and regional care center.

The TCF Regional Care Center is not set up to treat patients who require a respirator, or have other underlying medical conditions that require specialized care, she said. If people continue to practice social distancing we would not anticipate reaching capacity at the facilities, but we also want to ensure we are maintaining a position of readiness for the needs of the community.

The coronavirus has silenced much of Detroit.

At lunchtime In downtown Detroit on a sunny but chilly spring day, the streets are mostly vacant. The shiny office building that houses Quicken Loans overlooks an empty Grand Martius Park. The only person there is a fluorescent-vested maintenance worker.

The People Mover stations are closed and the QLine street cars are parked. There is no crack of the bat echoing from Comerica Park, no cheering crowds.

Penny, a 67-year-old Detroit resident who declined to give her last name, walks along Michigan Avenue in a Detroit Tigers coat and face mask. Until Major League Baseball was postponed, Penny worked at Comerica Park and loved how the games would jolt the city to life this time of year.

Now weve got to wear around masks and gloves, watch who were passing and just have to be careful," she said. "Because this stuff is real.

Her days are spent alone inside with occasional calls to family.

Detroits a tough city, you know," Penny said. "Were going to beat this. This aint nothing. Its like a little glitch.

At the Rosa Parks Transit Center, a few dozen people wearing mask wait for public buses. Service has continued amid the outbreak, but ridership has dropped, eliminating some routes and fees. Riders are now provided masks if they dont have their own.

Police tape blocks picnic tables under a gazebo at Rouge Park in Detroit, on Thursday, April 16, 2020. Police put tape up to try to stop park visitors from gathering during the coronavirus outbreak. (Mike Mulholland | MLive.com)Mike Mulholland | MLive.com

Parks are now mostly empty, particularly after Detroit police began issuing citations for those violating the stay-home order to gather in large groups, have parties or play basketball games. Last week, the department issued more than 1,600 warnings and 700 citations for violating the order.

At Rouge Park, the citys largest with nearly 1,180 acres, rims of the basketball hoops have been removed and police lines wraps around gazebos and the childrens playground. Police drive through periodically looking for violators.

Before the big resurgence downtown, it looked like a ghost town, said Dr. Blandina Rose, 72, who stopped to buy cookies at a grocery store during a masked walk with her husband near Detroits Mexican Town. Thats how it looks once again.

Louis D. Johnson Jr. has his temperature taken on his temple at Detroit Rescue Mission in Detroit, on Thursday, April 16, 2020. (Mike Mulholland | MLive.com)Mike Mulholland | MLive.com

Taking precautions

Life has changed for nearly everyone.

Near the Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries mens emergency shelter on Third Street, just blocks from Little Caesars Arena, men would often gather outside to socialize. Now the sidewalks are mostly deserted.

Inside the shelter, about 20 men quietly sit in dinged-up metal folding chairs beneath a wobbly ceiling fan watching TV. Most of them are separated by the recommended six feet but dont wear protective face masks.

Right here, right now, all day, Edward Hits, 57, said, describing his average coronavirus pandemic afternoon. Hes been living in the shelter for three weeks, ever since losing a home in Hamtramck and his job as a cab driver.

In order to avoid a revolving door and increased coronavirus exposure, shelter manager Herbert Morris Jr. deters people from leaving by barring return until the following day.

It is stricter here because of the virus," said resident Louis D. Johnson Jr., one of the few wearing a mask. Normally, I would be outside, I would be looking for work.

Health officials identified the homeless as vulnerable and began testing at shelters across Detroit.

Theyve been here twice in the last week, Morris said. "Ive got a list upstairs. I told them, if they got tested, I want to know. If they didnt get tested or refused tests, I want to know.

Herbert Morris Jr., the Building Director at Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries, poses for a portrait at the rescue mission in Detroit, on Thursday, April 16, 2020. (Mike Mulholland | MLive.com)Mike Mulholland | MLive.com

The city, with help from the Detroit Rescue Mission, opened a separate coronavirus quarantine shelter at the Salvation Army Harbor Lights Ellen Thompson Center in March.

More than 36 men and women who tested positive were living in the quarantine shelter as of April 15, Detroit Rescue Mission President Dr. Chad Audi said.

While streets and parks are quiet, aisles in Detroits 60-year-old Honey Bee Market grocery store are not.

Owner Tammy Alfaro-Koehler directed a growing line of customers outside with a blue-gloved hand Monday afternoon while talking to employees over a walkie-talkie.

She and three managers attempt to strategically limit the store to 15 shoppers at a time, based on crowding in the produce section, meat counter or checkout. However, other duties sometimes distract them.

Honor system, reads the sign out front. 1 person exits. 1 person enters.

Other signs inside direct shoppers down tight aisles like one-way streets in order to decrease congestion and promote social distancing.

Alfaro-Koehler said nearly 25 employees have quit over fears of exposure since the coronavirus pandemic began. The remaining employees are working six days a week with overtime to keep up with the additional demand and new sanitation needs.

We wash our baskets, we sterilize our buggies, we do it constantly through the day, Alfaro-Koehler said.

Despite Gov. Gretchen Whitmers plea for residents to stay home unless leaving is necessary, Alfaro-Koehler said some customers treat shopping as their last form of entertainment. Entire extended families with multiple kids peruse the aisles aimlessly and some shoppers come in multiple times a day for just a few items, she said.

Im getting tired because we feel like its a burden on our shoulders" Alfaro-Koehler said " ... My job is to protect everybody, whether its my workers, myself and especially the customers."

Shed like to see more people take the precautions seriously.

The quicker we can listen to this, the quicker it can get over, Alfaro-Koehler said. So I would just say, please, so we can all go back. I know it may not go back to normal, but we can at least feel like we have some freedom.

In this April 10, 2020, photo, Detroit Police Capt. Jevon Johnson, right, talks with Lt. Pride Henry outside the TCF Center, in Detroit. The coronavirus pandemic that has crippled big-box retailers and mom and pop shops worldwide may be making a dent in illicit business, too. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)AP

Getting back to normal

What that freedom will look like remains uncertain.

Less than six years since the city emerged from the largest municipal bankruptcy filing in U.S. history, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggans administration projects the coronavirus pandemic will strip the budget of $348 million in projected revenue, a large chunk from losses due to the temporary shuttering of the citys three casinos and their hotels.

Detroit this week opened up its drive-through testing facility at the former state fairgrounds to any essential workers, even if they arent displaying coronavirus symptoms. Duggan said employee testing will become crucial to reopening the economy safely.

We need to be able to have this city recover economically as quickly as possible, the mayor said. And so its time to start testing people who dont have symptoms, so people will know for sure whether theyre infected or whether theyre not.

Detroits automakers are in discussions with the United Auto Workers (UAW) union regarding safely restarting production, Reuters reported this week.

Duggan said he wants Detroit to lead the nation with the plan to reopen its economy. He expects the medical protocols established for city government to become a road map for private business.

Michigan is already beginning to look at why the states black residents, who make up about 13.6% of Michigans population, experienced such disproportionately high number of cases and deaths. Black patients, many from Detroit, account for 33%, of the 35,000 cases in Michigan, and 40% of the 2,800 deaths, according to state data.

Whitmer created the Michigan Coronavirus Task Force on Racial Disparities to explore the issue and make recommendations to help correct it.

This has magnified the problems of underlying issues, said state Rep. Carter. " ... We always have always known this in the black community. Now its almost like the world knows it."

Carter absolutely believes the pandemic will result in positive change.

I hope the disparity and resource issue in under-served black communities is addressed, he said. "Its almost like the Flint water crisis.

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Daily life grinds to a halt with empty streets, a rising death toll as coronavirus lays siege to Detroit - MLive.com

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