DETROIT – Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is calling on Michigan schools to offer remote education for two weeks after spring break, youth sports to pause all activities for two weeks and people to avoid eating indoors at restaurants for the same amount of time.
She stressed this is a request, not a mandate. But she said people taking action on their own is the only way Michigan can curb a huge rise in COVID-19 cases in the state.
"We all know what works, and this has to be a team effort. We have to do this together — lives depend on it," Whitmer said.
"This is my ask to you, the people of Michigan. Please redouble your efforts on these fronts for the next couple of weeks."
She also took a polite swipe at the Biden administration, calling on the federal government to send more doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to Michigan and other states where cases are soaring.
Whitmer confirmed speaking with President Joe Biden Thursday night, where she said she asked the president and advisors to surge vaccines to Michigan.
"As always, it was a good conversation...I made the case for a surge strategy. At this point, that's not being deployed. But I'm not giving up," Whitmer said.
National experts, from the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to Dr. Anthony Fauci, have argued Michigan needs to stop rolling back safety measures given the concerning COVID-19 trends in the state. They specifically suggested cracking down on indoor youth sports; while most spring sports are outside, the delay in starting the winter season because of the pandemic means basketball and other sports are finishing up their playoffs this month.
However, Whitmer and the state health department have been resistant to calls for new orders — since the departure of former health department leader Robert Gordon in late January, new director Elizabeth Hertel has only eased restrictions on dining, business capacity and private gatherings.
The state did institute new testing requirements for youth sports, but did not ban practice or play despite evidence pointing to games and gatherings afterward as likely sources of spread. As of April 2, athletes are required to regularly test in order to participate in practices and games.
During an interview with CNN earlier this week, Whitmer said youth sports is "one area that we need to do more in.”
“We thought with these additional precautions — in terms of increased testing, increased ability to have these safety protocols, decreased numbers of people that can attend these events — that we would be able to do this safely," Whitmer said.
"But we are seeing the spread continuing in teenage sports. And frankly it's something that we’re very concerned about. And that’s why we’re doing even more testing and possibly going further than we have."
Whitmer's words underscore a desperate race to vaccinate as many people as possible in order to curb a massive new surge in the pandemic.
Right now, the state is losing.
Michigan’s COVID-19 case rate has now risen to 515 cases per million, four times higher than it was in mid-February, said Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, the state’s chief medical executive. The percentage of positive COVID-19 tests is also four times higher than it was in mid-February — at 18%. That’s the highest point it's been since the spring of 2020, and suggests broad community spread of the virus.
“The data is concerning. But there is no need to panic. We know how to do this. And I want to be clear, and I've said this before, just because something is open, it does not mean that it is safe or that you should do it," Khal
“Everyone should also be implementing specific public health mitigation measures in their personal lives. Infectious disease and public health experts across the country have been quite clear that indoor dining is one of the riskiest things you can do during this pandemic. And with the numbers that we are seeing now, we simply do not recommend it.”
Essentially all of Michigan's COVID-19 trends are the worst in the nation. Case rates, test positivity rates, hospitalizations and deaths are all increasing, some rapidly. Cases and test positivity have surpassed some earlier portions of the pandemic, when far more stringent restrictions on restaurants, other business and private gatherings were in place.
Speaking recently at Ford Field in Detroit, Whitmer said the upswing is "not a policy problem." Instead she pointed to pandemic fatigue, said the state's previously strong performance made the case trends look worse and noted there are more virus variants in the state. She received her first dose of the vaccine this week and called on everyone 16 and older to get their injections as soon as possible.
Nearly 2 million Michiganders are completely vaccinated, almost 25% of the population 16 and older. However, the majority of those vaccinated are 50 and older, given this population was eligible for the vaccine earlier than younger people in the state.
There is a corresponding spike in outbreaks among teens. As of this week, there were 81 new outbreaks tied to K-12 settings, compared with 35 at long-term care facilities, where residents and staff have all been given the chance to be fully vaccinated.
Hospital leaders say those school outbreaks are also infecting the largely unvaccinated parents of K-12 students, as hospitalizations have sharply risen among Michiganders ages 30-49.
This week, there also were 29 coronavirus outbreaks connected to bars and restaurants.
Currently, restaurants are able to operate with 50% indoor capacity. That's among the most lenient restrictions have been in months, following orders issued by the state health department in November to stymie a separate uptick in cases.
Recently, every Republican in the Michigan Senate voted for a measure that would tie indoor dining capacity to case rates and hospitalizations. As the rates go up, capacity would generally go down.
While this mirrors calls for more clarity on decision making from the restaurant industry and other business, all eateries would likely need to end indoor dining if the measure were law today. That generally goes against previous calls from Republicans and business leaders who have asked the state to remove restrictions, arguing residents are reasonable enough to act responsibly and safely.
Dr. Michael McKenna, executive vice president and chief medical officer of McLaren Health Care said vaccinating as many people as quickly as possible while also encouraging people to continue taking steps shown to work to reduce the spread of the virus, such as hand washing, wearing masks and distancing, are vital.
"Far and away was the message he has to be: We've got to vaccinate everybody," McKenna said. "And, you know, people have to start understanding, you're not vaccinating just for yourself. You're vaccinating for your neighbors. You're vaccinating for your coworkers, and even more importantly, you're vaccinating for your kids and your families.
"We have to start thinking much broadly than the individual that says, 'I'm doing it so I don't get sick.' Because when you do get sick with a variant, you may infect 10-20 people, and that may lead to people dying.
"The policy isn't going to do it. It's going to be the vaccination, and we need to encourage people to continue to follow what's clearly been shown by the CDC to be helpful.
"I would much rather concentrate on promoting the vaccine and getting this vaccine hesitancy to be reduced because that's what's going to really help us not only as a state, but as a country and the world. ... We have to increase the quantity and the speed of vaccination. ... Things could dramatically change if we get a really significant increase in the amount of vaccinations we are doing.
"That should be 100% the focus. The focus shouldn't be on should kids be in school or not be in school or a lot of these other things are things that we may want to consider, but we know the most important thing is getting vaccinated."
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