LANSING, MI (WTVB) – Citing an uptick in coronavirus cases, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced Friday she is extending the state’s emergency and disaster declaration until September 4, 2020.
The state of emergency had been set to expire Tuesday, August 11. The extension comes amid a plateau of new cases, with steady hospitalization rates, and low death rates.
The state of emergency, first declared more than five months ago, has allowed Whitmer to put a pause on residential evictions, cap the size of crowds both indoor and outdoor, institute requirements to wear masks and socially distance, delay tax deadlines, and issue new workplace infection-control rules.
Gov. Whitmer has said nearly every state in the country is maintaining a state of emergency to cope with COVID-19.
Discussion now centers on what will happen with schools once they open in a few weeks. Whitmer said in her press release Friday that states that have reopened schools have already begun to see new cases, including a second-grader in Cherokee County, Georgia, a middle schooler in Greenfield, Indiana, and a high schooler in Corinth, Mississippi, have already tested positive for COVID-19 having attended school in person, triggering quarantines in those districts.
On Thursday, she also signed a new executive order that requires face coverings to be worn in all child-care centers and camps.
