CLICK TO HEAR EXCERPT OF GOVERNOR’S MONDAY COMMENTS
Stay the course.
That was the message Monday from Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who says her Stay at Home order remains necessary even as the number of cases and deaths continues on a downward trend.
Whitmer says that we should not hang out with our friends and continue to stay home to fight the spread of the coronavirus.
She says that is true even in small groups where nobody appears to be sick,
“You can be carrying COVID-19 and not even know it,” Whitmer said. “In fact, a lot of people are asymptomatic. That goes for everyone in your social circle. Until we have a vaccine, until we can do more to keep people safe, social distancing is still the best tool and only that we have to prevent further spread.”
The governor also said that restrictions are needed for the entire state, even though there are less than 100 cases here in the Upper Peninsula.
“We’re looking at this epidemic to ensure that the density and trajectory is in the right path,” Whitmer said. “COVID-19 is still present in 79 of the 83 counties. There’s a chance that some regions will re-engage at different paces than others. But at this juncture, we have to measure and continue to build out our public health system, then we’ll have a better understanding.”
Whitmer set up a commission two weeks ago that broke down the state into eight regions, with the U.P. being in Region 8. So far, the regional approach to re-opening has not been implemented.
Upper Peninsula state representative Sara Cambensy (D-Marquette) says that she and other U.P. lawmakers plan to present a plan to the governor this week to do just that. State Senator Ed McBroom (R-Norway) and State representative Beau LaFave (R-Iron Mountain) has been advocating a regional approach for weeks.
As the weather warms up, Whitmer says that state parks remain a way for you to get fresh air and exercise. She has not taken action to close them in the wake of large crowds showing up at Detroit’s Belle Isle state park last week.
“My team and I will continue to monitor the data and reports that are coming out of our state parks,” Whitmer said. “I’ll continue to make decisions based on what’s best for overall health and safety in terms of what our trajectory looks like, and what our capabilities are if we do have a COVID outbreak.”
In Monday’s news conference, the governor also said that the state has gone from 4,000 tests per day to 14,000 daily tests in the past two weeks. She says the testing will continue being ramped up, and will be key to long-term easing decisions.
The Michigan National Guard helped to test all 7,400 Upper Peninsula prisoners last week. The governor says that half of the tests have come back, and they have all been negative. The rest are still pending.
“Tomorrow marks nine weeks since this virus first appeared in Michigan,” Whitmer said. “Nine weeks of cancelled plans. But our hard work is paying off.”
She acknowledged that staying at home “can’t be tolerated in perpetuity.”
The governor also addressed the backlog of unemployment cases, and repeated that everybody who is eligible for benefits will get them, as cases are backdated from the date of the layoff, not from when the applications were approved.
Whitmer says they’ve added call center staff and hours to handle a system that has been overwhelmed by a historically-high number of unemployment claims.
The governor’s Stay at Home order, first issued on March 23rd, has been extended several times, and her current “Safer at Home” order runs through May 28th.
Republican lawmakers in the House and Senate have filed a lawsuit against her, saying that she has exceeded her authority by continuing to extend that order, and others. The Court of Claims has not ruled on the lawsuit.
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