Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and her Chief Medical Executive Dr. Joneigh Khaldun shared good news today about improving trends in the number of COVID cases over the past three weeks, but also doubled down on a bid to get the Michigan Legislature to do something to help both small businesses and the unemployed since the federal government has not.
Taking up another coronavirus briefing, Gov. Whitmer called out the Legislature for inaction on support measures, saying, “This is about the lives and livelihoods of Americans everywhere. Nearly three weeks ago I sent a letter to our Legislature requesting that they take action to protect the public health and help us save lives. In the three weeks since I sent that letter, nearly 2,000 Michiganders have died from COVID 19. That’s 2,000 people who were parents or grandparents and children and loved ones. People who were taken too soon. In that time, unfortunately, the Legislature has only been in session for six days. They’ve not taken action on these measures. We cannot afford to wait any longer.”
Recognizing that the clock is ticking, Whitmer adds, “Yesterday, I sent another letter to the Legislature urging them to work with me on priorities like $100-million in COVID relief. We know this virus is hurting our people and it’s hurting our businesses. There are people out there who have spent a lifetime building up their small business, and they’re hanging on by a thread. Since the federal government hasn’t been able to pass a bipartisan bill to help our small business owners, we here in Michigan have got to step up and take action. I’m ready to sign a bill, so it’s crucial for the Legislature to find some common ground and pass a targeted, state-based, economic stimulus plan of up to $100-million to provide direct financial support to the families and small businesses that have been hit the hardest by this pandemic.”
Concerned about those who have been out of work, the governor added today, “I also need them to, number two, pass a permanent extension of unemployment benefits. I appreciate the Senate’s expansion of unemployment benefits to 26-weeks through March, but we really need to work together to pass a permanent extension to protect the countless Michiganders and their livelihoods. The extension of benefits to hard-working Michiganders should not be used as some sort of a bargaining chip tied to other priorities of the Legislature. We have to focus on protecting public health and the economy right now. If we don’t take bipartisan action now, thousands of Michiganders could lose benefits at the end of this year.”
The governor also reprised her call for a Legislature mask mandate, saying, “The Legislature needs to pass legislation to protect public health including a mandate that we wear masks until a majority of us have had this vaccine. I know that there is bipartisan support for that action, but would love to see the Legislature take action. These are crucial things we can do to protect our people and our businesses here in Michigan.”
Asked about the current ban on indoor dining in the state, Gov. Whitmer said, “We know that our restaurants are hurting right now, and it’s not their fault that COVID 19 has spread so far and wide across this country and across our state. It is the nature of this virus. I’m doing everything I can to help these struggling small businesses and that’s why I’ve asked the Legislature to take this vote so we can give some resources to people who are unemployed because they are restaurant workers, but also for restaurants so that they can get through this tough time and we know that December and January are both going to be hard months. We need to help these small businesses out through this short period of time. We need to extend a hand to them to help them get through this tough time, as well as to those who are unemployed to help them get through this. This is not going to last forever, and the need is acute and it is right now. That’s why I’m hopeful that the Legislature will take action. We’ve been trying to get them to do that. There is the possibility to get that done, but if it’s not done this week it’s unlikely anything will happen until January when the next Legislature begins and that’s a very scary thing for our businesses and our people that are holding on by their fingernails.”
The good news of the day came from Dr. Khaldun who addressed recent COVID trends in the Great Lakes State, saying, “We are seeing positive trends in the data. Here’s where we are with the three key metrics we are tracking. Cases are at 560 cases per million people, and have been trending down for the past 22 days. Trends are declining in all areas of the state. Hospitalizations are also declining. Overall, 18.5-percent of hospital beds had COVID-19 patients in them. The percent of tests that are coming back positive is 12.3-percent, and that is also trending down for the past 7-days. All of this means that we are cautiously optimistic that there was not a post-Thanksgiving surge in cases. That means many Michiganders did their part in keeping spread of the virus down over the Thanksgiving holiday. We showed that we care about ourselves, our families, and our community. Let’s keep doing that. But we can’t forget that our case rates remain alarmingly high, and our percent of tests that are positive is still four times what it was at the beginning of September. Now is not the time to let our guard down.”
On that front, Gov. Whitmer turned to the Christmas holiday, joining fellow governors in another short video which she shared today, calling on everyone to be smart and be safe. Here’s a link to the joint video project:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb4qGXiEGsU&feature=youtu.be
