LANSING, Mich. – Michigan’s three-week COVID-19 order is in effect for four more days, but will it be extended beyond the original expiration date? If so, when would that be announced?
Local 4′s Rod Meloni posed these questions to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Thursday during her COVID-19 briefing.
Recommended Videos
“I think at this juncture, everyone has to know that, of course, we are looking at the data every single day, trying to make decisions with the best information that we have,” Whitmer said.
She said officials are expecting a spike in cases due to the increased travel and gathering around Thanksgiving. She called this month and next month possible spreading events.
“As we look at the data, we’re going to continue to look at the percent of tests that come back positive,” Whitmer said.
READ: Governor responds to Michigan restaurants considering defying state order, reopening
State officials are working with health systems to understand the severity of the current COVID-19 trends. Every health system in the state has seen growth in hospitalizations compared to a month ago, Whitmer said.
“As we get, I think, a few more days of information under our belts, we’ll be in a much stronger position to really assess if there are some things that maybe are safer to do,” Whitmer said. “But if we have to make some extensions of the current pause in some realms -- and that is sadly possible because of the sheer volume of COVID-19.”
She said state officials are also working with businesses that have been affected by the pause to try to help them. Congregating in enclosed spaces with multiple households present is inherently dangerous, Whitmer said, but she wants to do whatever it takes to help businesses get through this pause.