Governor Gretchen Whitmer continued to push back Sunday morning against calls for her to reimpose more COVID-19 restrictions in the face of a third surge. That’s as Michigan has led the nation in new cases per population for two weeks.
Michigan still requires masks, distancing and limits on gatherings. But the governor said on NBC’s “Meet The Press” that her options to do more are limited, partly due to court decisions.
“I have been sued by my Legislature. I have lost in a Republican-controlled Supreme Court,” she said. “Despite those things, we still have some of the strongest mitigation measures in the country – mask mandates, capacity limitations.”
She also said people can voluntarily use more stringent precautions than what the state requires.
“At the end of the day, this is going to come down to whether everyone does their part,” she said. “That’s the most important thing.”
Whitmer has also called for the federal government to redirect more vaccines to Michigan to combat the surge in cases and deaths.
Doctor Anthony Fauci – the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases – also appeared on the show. He said shifting more vaccines to Michigan would simply move the risk to other parts of the country.
“If you take vaccines from other places and move them around, you make that place more vulnerable to what’s going on in Michigan. That’s the reason why you’re not seeing a lot of re-mobilization of vaccines from one state to another.”
Fauci said the most effective way for Michigan and other states to address the COVID surge is to mandate more restrictions.
