CLICK BELOW TO LISTEN TO GOVERNOR WHITMER’S ANNOUNCEMENT
Governor Gretchen Whitmer has extended the “Stay at Home, Stay Safe” order through April 30th. She also tightened the restrictions even further, and warned that things won’t “go back to normal” on May1st.
The governor has banned travel to “second homes”, warning that doing so helps the virus to spread into areas of the state. She says that if you are not going out to get groceries are something critical to sustaining life, you must not go to the store.
Whitmer said that public and private gatherings of any size are now banned. She said you can still go running, hiking, walking, jogging, and biking…with proper social distancing.
“You need to take care of yourself,” she said. “People can still leave the house for outdoor and recreational activities. But stay at least six feet apart from other people.”
The governor placed limits on the number of people in a store at a given time.
“Any large store must limit the number of people in the store at one time, to no more than four customers per 1,000 square feet of space,” the governor said. “Smaller stores have to limit foot traffic to 25-percent of capacity.”
The governor tightened restrictions on large stores that sell items other than food, like Wal-Mart, Meijer, Target, and Menard’s, in our area.
“Big box stores will also have to close areas of the store that are dedicated to things like carpet or flooring or furniture, garden centers, plant nurseries, or paint,” Whitner said. “If you’re not buying food or medicine, or other essential items, you should not be going to the store.”
Michigan House Speaker, and Eastern U.P. state representative Lee Chatfield, was unhappy with the scope of the governor’s new order.
“The governor’s new and extended stay-at-home order is the wrong call. It’s bad for Michigan workers who are struggling to earn a living and provide for their families,” said Chatfield (R-Levering). “It will take much longer to reopen the economy than it took the governor to shut it down. We need to start helping people get back on their feet and back to work now before it’s too late.”
Western U.P. state representative Greg Markkanen (R-Hancock) also strongly objected.
“Too many people who could do their jobs safely have been forced to stop working because the governor has deemed them non-essential,” Markkanen said. “It’s time for the governor to shift her focus to safety and start working with the Legislature to make common-sense changes that allow people with low-risk jobs to return to work. The governor might think certain jobs are non-essential – but allowing people to earn a paycheck when they can do so safely is pretty essential in my book.”
The governor was asked about exempting some parts of the state, like the Upper Peninsula, from the strictest rules, given that the vast majority of illnesses and deaths are in Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb Counties near Detroit?
Whitmer said no.
“COVID-19 is present all across the state,” Whitmer said. “It may not have been detected. It might not have been tested for yet, We might not have had a fatality in every part of the state. But it is present statewide, and the more people move around, the more likely it is going to show up.”
She said that she has spoken with the CEOs of rural hospitals who are worried that people trying to escape from the big cities downstate will bring the disease to our part of the state, without even knowing it.
The governor says that travel for vacations, or to a second home, is banned.
Whitmer also was asked about re-opening golf courses and landscaping businesses, where people don’t work in confined locations. The governor said no.
“You have to pay someone, so someone had to show up (at the golf course) to take your money,” Whitmer said. “You have to go and get your tee time, and hand someone your clubs, possibly, and after you get out of the cart and you touched it. People would have to show up and go to work for your recreation, and we’re exposing all of them to COVID-19, as well as the golfer.”
You can see all of the governor’s new restrictions in her press release HERE .
Comments