LANSING, Mich. – In Lansing Monday night, the battle over Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s stay-at-home order only seemed to be heating up.
Michigan Republicans have a new plan to reopen the state’s economy and the governor talked about how she feels.
Whitmer said this week she would roll out her thoughts on getting Michigan open again around May 1.
However, on Monday she did not give any detail about her opinion toward the subject. Instead she told Michigan residents staying home is still needed.
"Those of you who want to get back to work as soon as possible, stay home. So those of you who made plans for June, July or August, and want to see them through, stay home,” said Whitmer.
The Republican controlled legislature is not waiting. It’s out with two separate, but similar plans they are calling Open Michigan Safely.
The plan starts with differing risk levels.
Tier one is the highest covering Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties looking to send more state resources there, keeping the stay-at-home order in place. Yet, removes the 50,000 square foot store shopping limits.
Tier two takes a lesser tone, and keeps the stay-at-home order, yet reduces large gathering limits.
Finally, there is a tier three standard that lifts the stay-at-home order all together.
Michigan Speaker of the House Lee Chatfield spoke with Local 4 News about the plan.
“Tier two and tier three, we begin releasing some of the restrictions that we have on the stay-at-home order, and what the guidelines are that we are adopting and what the travel restrictions are. I think the more surgical we can be in fighting this, the more effective we can be,” said Chatfield.
The senate plan concentrates on safe workplaces with hand washing and other protocols. It contains a larger resurgence plan and takes geography into account.
It also contains five phases, and uses testing capabilities, healthcare capacity, PPE availability, available data and finally a vaccine if one is introduced.
The stay-at-home order will remain in effect for another 10 days with all certainty life will not resume normally afterward. It will take phases and be slow to help mitigate the risk of another spike in cases.
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