CLICK TO LISTEN TO GOV. WHITMER DISCUSS RE-OPENING
Governor Gretchen Whitmer on Friday said that the vast majority of Michigan residents are “doing their part” in helping the fight the coronavirus by staying at home, and reducing their trips for essential items.
In a news conference from the Romney Building in downtown Lansing, Whitmer also for the first time that some parts of Michigan could re-open for at least some commerce before others.
“I want to be very clear that the decision to re-engage sectors of our economy is going to based on facts, on science, and the best medical advice that we can get,” Whitmer said. “When we start returning to work, we will begin with low-risk sectors. And as a state, we may re-engage our strategy by region, depending on what the data tells us. It is too early to lay out precisely what that may look like. We have to get this right.”
Whitmer said that she has been meeting with business and labor leaders about the best ways to move forward after her current “Stay At Home” order expires on May 1. That order has shut businesses deemed non-essential since March 24, and even more restrictioins were imposed on April 9.
“We are doing the hard work now so that when it’s safe to re-engage, we’re able to do so in a strategic way,” Whitmer said Friday. “Any return to work will be pased in carefully, so that we can track the impact of lifting social distancing neasures and what that means for the spread of COVID-19.”
The governor said that the number one goal is to keep people safe, while trying also to limit damage to the Michigan economy that has been largely shut down since March 16, effecting bars, restaurants, hair salons, gyms, and others. She said that which types of businesses re-open first will depend on several things.
“Factors like: whether the workers interact with the public,” she said. “Whether the workplace is outdoors or indoors. Whether workers are in close proximity to one another. Whether workers use shared tools and/or machinery. The number of people in a workplace. I’m working closely with health, business, and labor groups to ensure that best practices are used when people do return to work.”
Those include new arrangements to ensure social distancing within the workplace, screening employees and members of the public for the virus, available hand-washing facilities.
“We’re not there yet,” Whitmer said. “The rate of infection remains high, especially in certain parts of our state.”
There are 30,023 positive confirmed cases of the virus in Michigan, and 2,227 deaths.
Of the 30,023 confirmed positive cases, 23,279 of them (77.5 percent) are in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb Counties.
Of the 2,207 COVID-19 deaths, 1,443 of them (65.3 percent) are in those three counties.
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