LANSING, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — Four weeks into the stay-at-home order Michigan shows signs of a slowed down growth in COVID-19 cases, but the governor says more consideration is needed before she reopens the economy.
Earlier this month Governor Gretchen Whitmer extended the “Stay Home, Stay Safe” order to end on April 30, doubling down on efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic in the state.
The order advises Michigan residents to stay at their home as much as possible, with exceptions for trips to get basic necessities, medical care, and workers in roles considered essential for maintaining public health and services.
As of Thursday, April 16, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services is reporting lower numbers of additional cases compared to earlier weeks.
That comes as officials ramp up testing capability at hospitals, county health departments, and a series of drive-thru clinics to get a more accurate estimate of the total number of people sick.
MDHHS has also loosened restrictions on who fits the criteria to be tested for COVID-19, expanding the eligibility to include individuals showing only minor symptoms.
Asked whether when and how she will ease restrictions on state residents, Whitmer says that would depend on improving circumstances.
“I think the same factors you’re hearing from governors across the country. If we have a decline in the number of tests coming in positively, it’s that we have got robust testing, and that is still a struggle across this nation,” said Whitmer during an interview with the television show “Today” Wednesday.
Whitmer has not yet decided whether to extend the deadline for the stay-at-home order, though she has previously said she would take further action if the rate of new cases continues to rise. Released data projections show that Michigan appears to be experiencing a peak in cases sometime during mid-April , but a major concern is that if precautionary measures are lifted too soon a second rise in cases may occur later this year.
“It’s not going to be like flipping a light switch that life will return to what it was like on March 9th the day before we had two positive cases and life changed forever. We’re going to have to come in waves,” said Whitmer.
The governor has said she’s already considering how the state may eventually reopen while balancing concerns over public health, telling WWMT during an interview on Thursday, “I’ll start to share more of the thought process behind what this might look like as we get into next week, and then obviously the week after is when you’ll have an idea of what the waves really look like.”
Whitmer attributes the decline in new cases to the stay-at-home measure and other executive actions taken on the state level. A vast majority of state have implemented either statewide or regional shelter-in-place orders as health experts advise action to “flatten the curve”, that phrase referring to slowing the growth of COVID-19 so that healthcare providers are not overwhelmed by new patients.
Still the unprecedented shutdown of businesses, schools, and mass gatherings has provoked backlash from some residents, arguing that the moves are a disproportionate response to the public health crisis.
Data released this week shows that more than one million state residents have filed for unemployment benefits since the outbreak reached Michigan in early March, according to the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. An estimated 21% of the state’s workforce has sought benefits, the second most in the country.
Michigan republican lawmakers have just unveiled a plan to reopen the economy in phases. The “Open Michigan Safely” proposal being floated in the legislature would allow low-risk businesses that operate with little customer and employee contact to open back up, and base closures around regional factors and likelihood of resurgence in certain communities.
Wednesday thousands of protestors gathered around the state capitol building in Lansing in opposition to the order. Dubbed “Operation Gridlock”, vehicles congested traffic around the government buildings in a form of protest that complied with social distancing guidelines.
Others however defied public health guidelines to congregate, as many individuals could be seen next to one another chanting and holding signs in the city’s downtown area.
The governor spoke during a press conference later that day where she addressed the protests, saying that the actions were counterproductive and increased potential exposure of the virus.
“The protest was that they don’t like being in this stay home order, and they may have just created a need to lengthen it,” said Whitmer at the conference event.
She is currently reviewing options for how the state may come out of the stay-at-home period, but cautions that it will not be as simple as simply immediately lifting restrictions and then life returns to normal.
“We don’t have it all mapped out just yet but I am working with leaders in a variety of business enterprises, I am working with our best minds in the medical field to make sure that we are looking for the right metrics and we are prioritizing whether it’s regionally or by sector within the economy,” Whitmer said in the interview with WWMT.
President Donald Trump has recently spoke about his desire to lift restrictions in states and suspend federal health guidelines earlier than many governors would like to.
Some state governments have opted to coordinate with their neighbors to manage regional reopening as the COVID-19 outbreak continues. New York and 6 other mid-Atlantic states have announced that they will collectively plan their stay-at-home orders, and the west coast state of California, Oregon, and Washington have agreed to a similar partnership.
Whitmer has signaled that she is likely to ease travel and business restrictions in cooperation with Michigan’s neighboring Midwest states.
This week she announced a partnership with the governors of Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky to plan for the upcoming weeks.
In a released statement the governors have said that the collaboration effort does not mean all states will necessarily reopen at the same time, but it provides them a united front to obtain and share federal resources and slow growth in the region.
