LISTEN TO JACK HALL’S INTERVIEW WITH SENATOR MCBROOM HERE
LISTEN TO JACK HALL’S INTERVIEW WITH GOVERNOR WHITMER HERE
Upper Peninsula State Senator Ed McBroom is not happy with the governor’s comments on the U-P State Fair, which is still scheduled for August 17th through the 23rd in Escanaba.
In an interview with the Radio Results Network, the governor said that she would look at the protocols that the Fair has put in place to keep people safe, but gatherings of more than 250 people are still banned.
McBroom is also the Vice President of the Upper Peninsula State Fair Authority Board. He is also an agricultural exhibitor at the Fair.
“We worked very hard to put together a risk mitigation plan for all of the buildings, for all of the grounds, the exhibits, the vendors, the people who are coming to look,” McBroom said. “It’s a very comprehensive and good plan. We’ve worked very hard on it with public health officials.”
In a televised town hall meeting later Thursday, the governor said that having thousands of people congregating at the Fair was not safe. McBroom says he understands that the governor may have been put on the spot by the media, and maybe hasn’t had a chance to look over the Fair’s plans to hold a safe event.
But in the RRN interview, the governor said we would not move to Phase Six of the MiSafe Start Plan…which would allow large gatherings… until we have a virus vaccine.
“That’s ridiculous,” McBroom said. “I mean, that could be years. It could be never! That’s just a silly thing to say. The disease is going to continue to spread. It’s going to be something that we have to continue to live with until a vaccine comes along, and when you can’t guarantee the appearance of a vaccine in any short time frame, delaying inevitably is just a foolish decision.”
McBroom asked how can schools re-open, but outdoor Fairs are deemed unsafe.
“So, we’re going to be plugging students back into these confined spaces, and yet we can’t have a wide open spaces event at the Fairgrounds?” McBroom asked. “Just like my city’s (Norway) parade got cancelled because the attorney general said ‘well, you’ll be violating the 250 people at a gathering’. Ok, but it’s outside, it’s people stretched out over a mile on the roadway, on both sides of the road. Is that really a gathering? Is that what this rule was set up for?”
Whitmer did not specifically say in either of the radio or TV interviews that the Fair could not be held.
The governor has repeatedly said that some restrictions are still needed indefinitely to avoid the possibility of a “second wave” of the virus in Michigan. McBroom disputes that this is even possible.
“I don’t believe you can avoid the second wave,” McBroom said. “It’s either coming when we open now, or coming when we open up next January, or coming when we open up next year in July. You can’t avoid the second wave unless a vaccine comes, and there’s no guarantee a vaccine is coming.”
McBroom says that normal life, including things like the U.P. State Fair, should be allowed to continue because hospitals are ready to handle any increases in people coming down with illnesses related to the virus. He adds that the number of people who are complying with the governor’s orders continues to fall because many people are either confused by them, or feel that they know for themselves how to act with personal responsibility.
Whitmer says that studies showing that her orders, while aggressive and disruptive, have saved lives. McBroom disputes that, as well, saying that those numbers “may be a nice thing to say and appear good on the surface”, but is actually a “false premise”.
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