Whitmer Says She Has Authority To Order New Stay-Home Order in Michigan
LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Monday she has the authority to issue a second stay-at-home order to curb the spiking coronavirus if necessary and called a comment by an adviser to President Donald Trump urging people to "rise up" against Michigan's latest restrictions "incredibly reckless."
The Democratic governor spoke with Capitol reporters a day after announcing limits amid a surge of COVID-19 cases that have led to increased hospitalizations and deaths. Other Midwest states are facing similar second waves as the weather cools, and she has urged the public to "double down" with precautions to avoid a shelter-in-place order like what was instituted in the spring.
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Whitmer responded to a tweet sent Sunday night by Scott Atlas, a science adviser to Trump, who urged people to "rise up" after the governor's announcement. Trump himself has urged supporters to push Whitmer to reopen the state following COVID-19 restrictions. And 14 men have been charged in connection with an alleged plot to kidnap the governor.
"It's just incredibly reckless considering everything that has happened, everything that is going on," Whitmer said. "We really all need to be focused on the public health crisis that is ravaging our country and that poses a very real threat to every one of us."
Atlas later tweeted that he "NEVER" would endorse or incite violence.
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Under the new restrictions that start Wednesday, Michigan high schools and colleges must halt in-person classes, restaurants must stop indoor dining and entertainment businesses must close for three weeks. Gathering sizes also will be tightened.
Whitmer renewed her call for the Republican-led Legislature to codify a mask requirement in law in part to send a unified message to the public, calling it "the best weapon we have against our common enemy."
MORE FROM CBS DETROIT: Michigan closes high school, indoor restaurants, casinos, movie theaters, and organized sports due To COVID-19.
She noted that lawmakers enacted laws keeping intact unemployment benefits and addressing other matters after the state Supreme Court's October ruling striking down a law she repeatedly used to respond to the pandemic, but said her administration can continue largely combatting the pandemic unilaterally under another public health law.
"This is precisely the power that one of the justices pointed to in terms of actions we can and should be taking throughout this pandemic," the governor said.
Michigan's 7-day average of daily new cases has more than doubled from 3,113 to 6,684 over two weeks. It is up nearly five-fold from 30 days ago. Daily deaths also have surged, from 25 to 62, according to The COVID Tracking Project. The number of patients currently hospitalized, about 3,000, has risen six-fold in under two months.
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