LANSING, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — Governor Whitmer is urging President Trump to create a nationwide mask mandate.
During a press conference Tuesday, Whitmer spoke on the latest statewide efforts in fighting the COVID-19 virus, during which she reemphasized the wearing of masks and social distancing.
“40,000 American lives would be spared nationwide if 95 percent of us wore a mask,” Whitmer said.
She wants a mandate similar to what Michigan and other states already have in place, especially in regards to reopening schools.
“Masking up today increases our odds of resuming in-person instruction in the fall,” Whitmer said. “When more Americans where a mask in public, we can save lives and put ourselves in a better position to send our kids back to school this fall. Wearing a mask has been proven to reduce the spread of COVID-19 by 70 percent.”
She praised a photo of Trump that was posted last Monday of himself wearing a face mask, but said that more needed to be done.
“I urge him to embrace a nationwide mask order, back up that statement and let’s take action,” Whitmer said. “A Federal mask mandate would be a great start, but we also need a strong recovery plan from the Federal government to help our small businesses, our owners, first responders, our state governments and local governments so we can all recover from this.”
The governor was also critical of the latest COVID-19 funding plan coming out of Washington and said it does not accomplish the goal of helping states.
“We need more help and leadership at the federal level,” Whitmer said. “Their plan does not give the adequate relief to millions of hardworking Americans who have lost their job as a result of the mishandling of this crisis. Last week, 1.4 million people across the U.S. filed initial unemployment claims. That’s the first increase since April, and yet the proposal that just came out of Washington would reduce pandemic-related unemployment benefits that have been a lifeline for so many people.”
Luckily, some coronavirus numbers are improving. The Kalamazoo region is around 30 cases per million people per day but have seen a decrease. The Grand Rapids region is moving out of the “high risk” phase due to declining cases.
Citizens are reminded that this high risk phase is not the same as reopening phases.
Dr. Joneigh Khaldun also announced a new text messaging platform where state health officials can text Michiganders to let them know that they will receive a call about their possible exposure to the coronavirus.
“We’re still only able to complete that initial interview of those positive cases about two-thirds of the time, mostly due to people having wrong contact information or not answering the phone,” Khaldun said. “Our public health staff will now be able to easily send a text message to your phone if you were potentially exposed, and you can be expecting a call. The most important thing we need everyone to do is answer their phone when public health staff attempt to call you.”
Khaldun acknowledged that people may be unwilling to answer calls from unknown numbers, which is why the text messaging program is crucial.
“This additional text messaging platform will allow you to know that there is a call that will be coming from a public health staff,” Khaldun said. “We won’t ask for any bank information or social security numbers, but please do share information about who you may have been in contact with.”
Governor Whitmer also explained that the final decision on schools will be announced before the first day of school, but it will be closer to it than “anyone is going to be happy with.”
“If the numbers continue to go up, then we may not be able to resume in-person instruction,” Whitmer said. “That’s what we’re trying to avoid with things like the masking requirement and doubling down on these protocols.”
This comes as Grand Rapids is the latest West Michigan school district to announce online learning for the fall.
A video of the full press conference can be viewed online at this link.
— Jeana Gondek contributed to this report. —
