The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com News Wednesday, March 3, 2021 — 3 Whitmer to ease restrictions on indoor dining, residential care Relaxed regulations come after six straight weeks of declining cases in the state The state of Michigan will ease restrictions on indoor dining capacity, outdoor activities and residential care facilities beginning Friday, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced at a news conference Tuesday. Starting Friday, restaurants and bars will be allowed to operate at 50% capacity up to 100 people, an increase from 25% over the previous six weeks. Retail and other indoor entertainment venues will also open up to 50% capacity. Gatherings at residences can now hold 15 people from up to three different households indoors, with up to 50 people outdoors. New guidelines on non- residential gatherings expand capacity for events like public meetings, with up to 25 people now permitted indoors and 300 allowed outdoors. Indoor stadiums can hold 375 patrons if seating capacity is under 10,000 and 750 if capacity is over 10,000. Outdoor entertainment venues can host up to 1,000 people. However, Washtenaw County’s limits of ten people for indoor gatherings and 25 people for outdoor gatherings remain in effect, according to the Washtenaw County Health Department website. “As we continue our vaccine rollout and make steady progress against the virus, we are taking additional incremental steps to re-engage to ensure we are protecting our families and frontline workers and saving lives,” Whitmer said in a Tuesday press release from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. According to Tuesday’s press release, COVID-19 cases in Michigan declined for six straight weeks and are now at levels similar to those in early October, before the nationwide winter spike. Cases in the state are now plateauing at a rate of around 91 cases per million, with a positivity rate of 3.7%. The press release also said more than two million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in the state. MDHHS also acknowledges that more contagious variants like the B.1.1.7 variant spreading throughout the state could make the pandemic more difficult to control. “We continue to monitor the data closely, and based on current trends we are taking another step toward normalcy,” MDHHS Director Elizabeth Hertel wrote in the press release. “We urge Michiganders to continue doing what works and wearing a mask, washing their hands and avoiding crowds.” Restrictions on nursing home visitations and activities will also ease, as all residents have been offered a first dose of COVID-19 vaccines and most have had a second dose. The new Residential Care Facilities Order goes into effect immediately and encourages communal dining, group activities for residents and indoor and outdoor visitation in all counties. Other restrictions such as the mask mandate and the pause on activities with close physical contact without masks continue, as well as the directive for people to work from home if they are able to. Whitmer first announced the state’s epidemic order in November as rising COVID-19 cases across the state threatened to overwhelm hospital capacity. The order was initially scheduled to last three weeks, but was extended nearly three months as the situation worsened across the country. These restrictions began to be lifted in January, when Whitmer announced that indoor dining would be allowed to resume at limited capacity on Feb. 1 and some extracurricular activities for K-12 students would be allowed. Whitmer’s updated order reflects a larger pattern of state governors easing restrictions that were in place throughout much of the winter, when COVID- 19 infection rates peaked. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker announced last Thursday that the state would move into its next reopening phase, with limits on indoor dining to be relaxed in the coming weeks. Similarly, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced that Virginia would ease restrictions beginning Monday. Managing News Editor Liat Weinstein can be reached at weinsl@umich.edu. Daily News Editor Calder Lewis can be reached at calderll@umich.edu. CALDER LEWIS & LIAT WEINSTEIN Daily News Editors GOVERNMENT Librarians, archivists and curators unionize, seek to join LEO Vote to add group to lecturers’ union opened Thursday, will last until March 4 ACADEMICS Librarians, archivists and curators (LACs) across the University of Michigan’s three campuses announced on Twitter Feb. 22 that they are campaigning to join the Lecturers’ Employee Organization, the University’s union of non-tenure track faculty. Voting on the resolution to add LACs to the union opened Thursday and will last until March 4, according to a statement released by LEO. LEO strives to “increase the economic, professional, social and political power of non-tenure track faculty” at the University in order to better educate students, fight for equity across all three campuses and promote universal access to high-quality public education, according to their constitution. Meredith Kahn, librarian for gender and sexuality studies on the Ann Arbor campus, helped form the organizing committee for LACs and told The Daily LACs play an important role in sustaining the universities’ research operations. “Even though we work in different parts of the university, and we work with different collections, I think what unites us is that you really cannot have a world-class research university without world-class libraries, archives, museums, galleries, gardens, all of those things,” Kahn said. “You cannot have those things without the labor of librarians, archivists and curators.” Lecturers voted to unionize in 2004 to secure their rights to bargain with the University on issues related to health care, salaries and job security, among other provisions. LACs and lecturers are both considered non-tenure track faculty, with over 10% of LACs having a part- time appointment as a lecturer during their career. In June, the University’s Board of Regents passed a resolution recognizing the formal right of employees to bargain collectively, essentially clarifying how the University should interact with unions. In the past, extensive negotiations between unions and University administrators have become tense and drawn-out, sometimes leading to a stalemate between the two groups. Kahn said the process of joining LEO began soon after this resolution was passed. “(The resolution) signaled to us (LACs) that it was maybe a little bit safer to pursue forming a union,” Kahn said. To begin, a small group of LACs reached out to the American Federation of Teachers of Michigan to discuss unionizing in June. From there, the LACs were put in touch with LEO. They then spent the summer reaching out to LACs from across the three campuses to better understand the similarities between LACs and other non-tenured faculty, specifically lecturers. “What we want is better working conditions, better salaries, more parity between the three campuses,” Kahn said. “We want administration to address diversity, equity and inclusion more seriously. There’s actually quite a bit that we share.” LEO President Ian Robinson, lecturer in the sociology department and in the Residential College, told The Daily there was a lot of common ground between LACs and lecturers and welcomed the diversity that LACs would bring to the union. “We have gotten used — at the get-go — to being a union that values, accommodates and takes advantage of diversity rather than seeing it as a problem,” Robinson said. “The advantages of having people with new skills that our members don’t have … is very compelling for us at the leadership level.” BROOKE VAN HORNE Daily Staff Reporter ISAAC MANGOLD/Daily Librarians, archivists and curators campaign to join the Lecturers’ Employee Organization Monday afternoon. Read more at MichiganDaily.com CAMPUS LIFE Students question effectiveness of one- day “well-being break” University of Michigan students had their first “well- being” break — one of two days off from class in place of the traditional week-long spring break — Feb. 24. While the day was meant to promote student mental health without allowing enough time for travel, many students told The Michigan Daily that the one day break did not offer them time to engage in wellness activities. Instead, many students said they spent the time catching up on additional homework assignments during one of their most stressful semesters yet. In December, the Board of Regents approved two one- day, mid-week “well-being breaks” during the Winter 2021 semester in hopes of allowing students to step away from class responsibilities for a day. The decision to cancel classes for the two mid-week breaks came after the University canceled Spring Break in an effort to mitigate the spread of COVID- 19. Music, Theatre & Dance sophomore Ainsley Grace transferred to the University this year and said she hasn’t yet stepped foot on campus. In an interview with The Daily, Grace said this semester’s virtual experience has been especially isolating, making her feel as if she hasn’t had time for anything besides schoolwork. Grace said when one of her professors assigned double the typical amount of reading and suggested the class could complete it on the well-being day, it was yet another blow in what was already a uniquely challenging semester. “I don’t really think it’s enough — I think that it’s hard to not have a spring break at all,” Grace said. “I just had to do homework … I did not take a day off.” In an email to The Daily, University spokesperson Rick Fitzgerald said the purpose of the well-being breaks is to provide an opportunity for students to step away from the online learning environment for a day. “The well-being breaks were designed so students would have opportunities to spend time away from their typical spaces and screens as well as virtual breaks to meet students’ varying needs, while aligning with public health safety requirements,” Fitzgerald wrote. Like Grace, Engineering freshman Satvik Nagpal said he has also spent the school year studying from home, where he said it is difficult to motivate himself to do schoolwork without social interaction on campus. “Usually work and fun are separated, but now it feels like it’s almost a blur because all of your work is done at home,” Nagpal said. “(Remote learning) kind of just blends in and feels like every day is the same.” Nagpal also said some of his friends had assignments due on the well-being day, and he spent the day working on an EECS 281 project and studying for a quiz for a different class the following day. “It just seems like (professors are) working around the wellness day instead of changing their plans to give us more of a day off, instead of just a study day or a catch-up day,” Nagpal said. Fitzgerald also wrote that well-being days should be an opportunity for students and instructors to take time off from normal school activities. “While these are not vacation days and the university is open, academic activity is intended to pause to enable students and instructors some time to use as they find most appropriate,” Fitzgerald wrote. Nagpal added he feels two days off during a 13-week semester is insufficient in supporting students’ mental health and that he would like to see students receive more time off. Engineering sophomore Zachary Goldston said even though he appreciated the University’s attempt to provide safe time off for students, it was not enough time to fully relax. “I appreciate what initiative Michigan is trying to take, considering they removed holidays, long weekends and spring break from us in order to prevent the spread of COVID during the winter semester,” Goldston said. “For some people, this has been more of a catch-up day or even a workday with some teachers assigning readings, even exams or a lot of work, since kids are missing class today, which personally, I think goes against what the University was planning to do.” Goldston said he spent part of his well-being day golfing, though he acknowledged that other students he knew had more stressful days. “We wanted a day where we could, instead of focusing on Zoom University, instead of focusing on the stressors in our lives, take a second just to chill, take a deep breath and have some time for us to think instead of constantly rushing around from point to point worrying about assignments and activities,” Goldston said. Public Health junior Bushra Hassan said she spent her well-being day catching up on lectures and studying for an exam the following day. In an interview with The Daily, Hassan said she feels virtual classes have created additional stressors for students. “Staring at a screen for six continuous hours is very draining,” Hassan said. “It’s like you have to be actively engaged the whole time, especially if you have your camera on, which is very exhausting.” On Feb. 22, Hassan said one of her professors assigned two additional lectures with an expectation they would be completed over the next two days, one of which coincided with the break. Hassan said she reached out to the professor to express concerns about the assignment but did not receive a response. The following day, Hassan said her professor told the class to watch the lectures at two-times speed. “I didn’t know how to respond to him, because this is a wellness day, and I asked him, what does it mean to him. He just didn’t answer me,” Hassan said. The Daily reviewed Hassan’s email to her professor and confirmed its contents, but was unable to confirm the professor’s statement in the class. Goldston said this semester has been a trying experience for students and that he hopes there are more opportunities to relax in the future. “In reality, I just want one day for us to forget that we’re in this sort of almost dystopian, nightmarish time and just kind of get to do something we want to do,” Goldston said. Daily Staff Reporter Dominick Sokotoff can be reached at sokotoff@umich.edu. DOMINICK SOKOTOFF Daily Staff Reporter “In reality, I just want one day for us to forget that we’re in this sort of almost dystopian, nightmarish time” With spring break canceled, many struggle with lack of time off from class ASHA LEWIS/Daily Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced new COVID-19 restrictions at a press conference Tuesday, to take effect Friday.