LANSING, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — Governor Gretchen Whitmer is extending her “Stay Home, Stay Safe” Executive Order through the end of April.
She made that announcement on Thursday, just days before the order was set to expire.
On March 23 the governor first put the order in place as the number of coronavirus cases continued to grow throughout the state and across the country. It was expected to last for at least three weeks until April 13.
However, Michigan has still not reached the apex when it comes to this health pandemic, so Whitmer hinted about extending the order during an earlier interview on WKZO as well as a talk with WOOD TV 8.
This executive order keeps previous guidelines in place, but also adds new restrictions to some stores. This means non essential employees must continue staying home unless their work is necessary to sustain or protect life or they are needed to conduct minimum basic operations.
According to the governor’s statement, “Businesses and operations are to designate the workers who meet those criteria, and must adopt social distancing practices and other mitigation measures to protect workers and patrons in the performance of that in-person work.”
In addition, all public and private gatherings outside of a single household are still prohibited at this time.
However, there are some new rules in this executive order regarding stores that are allowed to stay open. “Large stores must limit the number of people in the store at one time to no more than 4 customers for every 1,000 square feet of customer floor space; small stores must limit capacity to 25% of the total occupancy limits (including employees) under the fire codes.”
Stores will also have to establish lines with markings six feet apart from each other, which some places like Meijer, Aldi, and more already have in place.
The biggest change is large stores will have to somehow close off parts of the store that are dedicated to “carpeting, flooring, furniture, garden centers, plant nurseries, or paint.”
During her press briefing on Thursday the governor stressed the importance of what is considered essential and explained how golf courses, mowing services, gardening centers and other similar businesses must stop all operations.
In a written statement, Governor Whitmer said, “This doesn’t mean everything will go back to normal on May 1. But based on the data we have right now, this is the appropriate window for an extension. It will take time to safely and responsibly re-open the economy, which is why we will continue to provide critical unemployment support and assistance to our small businesses during this challenging time. We will get through this if we all continue to do our part.”
This means two things will fall on April 30th. The extended Stay Home, Stay Safe Executive Order will expire and then the Legislature will have to meet again to decide if they want to further extend the emergency declaration which would then give the governor the opportunity to extend the order yet again, if the need arises.
