Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed a new executive order Tuesday that extends her emergency and disaster declaration powers to Aug. 11 as the state and country continue its battle with coronavirus.
The move comes as the state reported 584 additional COVID-19 cases for a total combined case number of 70,306. Another six deaths have been linked to the disease, raising that total to 6,081.
More concerning to the Governor is the rise of cases in the past two weeks. Since July 1, the average number of new cases is 452 a day. In the last two weeks of June, the average number of new cases was 239, almost half.
The average number of deaths, however, has inched down from 11 per day in late June to 9.5 a day in early July.
According to the Governor’s office, the daily COVID-19 case count now exceeds 20 cases per million in Detroit, Lansing, Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo. Cases are growing in 39 states. In Florida, 15,300 new cases were reported in a single day, the highest one-day total for any state so far during the pandemic.
Michigan Republican Party Chair Laura Cox said that while it’s clear that Michigan is still under threat from COVID-19, it’s time for the Governor to start working with the people’s elected legislators to end this crisis.
“By continually extending her State of Emergency order, she has intentionally circumvented the checks and balances our system of government is built on and given the cold shoulder to our legislative leaders who represent nearly 10 million Michiganders,” Cox said. “Michigan is stronger when our leaders work together, not unilaterally.”
Whitmer told CNN host Anderson Cooper that the conduct we “engage in right now is going to determine whether or not our kids get back to school in a meaningful way in person.”
Schools are slated to reopen in Michigan in 56 days and the “slippage” she’s seeing in the COVID-19 numbers is concerning and we “need to get right on it.”
“The last place we want to be is one of these states have uncontrolled growth going on in the South,” she said.