Whitmer Asks Michiganders To Wear Masks As Coronavirus Cases Rise

MICHIGAN — Adorned in a mask, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer Wednesday urged residents to themselves wear face covers as the number of new coronavirus cases continues to rise.

She also called on federal officials to put aside politics to collaborate in the fight against the coronavirus.

"I've repeatedly called on the federal government to get a bipartisan recovery package that gives support to states for our families and frontline workers and small businesses," Whitmer said during a news conference. "But we have seen the U.S. Senate leadership in Washington prove once again that they're not able to work together."

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Whitmer's news conference, a scheduled appearance Wednesday afternoon, focused primarily on actions her administration has taken during the course of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. In Michigan, nearly 150,000 cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed. More than 7,000 people in Michigan have died from the virus.

Preventing the spread of the virus is made easier by wearing a mask and social distancing, Whitmer said. Those guidelines were once requirements included in executive orders issued by the Whitmer administration, but those orders were voided when the Michigan Supreme Court ruled on party lines that the law Whitmer cited in making the orders was unconstitutional.

Since that time, Whitmer said, the state has seen an increase in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.

"We are now at our peak when it comes to daily new cases. This peak is higher than what we saw in April," she said.

Whitmer showed graphs that showed the number of new COVID-19 cases reported daily. The graphs appeared to show increases on dates following the Michigan Supreme Court's ruling. A second graph tracking the number of hospitalizations seemed to show similar trends.

"Our numbers are climbing," Whitmer said. "We need to take this seriously."

The governor said she was concerned COVID-19 cases will spike because of the arrival of cold weather. She also expressed concern with the potential spread of the flue and the havoc it could bring to hospitals.

"We're all spending more time indoors," she said. "We know that more people will get sick. We know that more people will get hospitalized and, sadly, more people will lose their battle with COVID-19."

Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Chief Medical Executive Dr. Joneigh Khaldun said the state has done well in regards to expanding its testing. But the state's leading medical official said she was concerned about the how many of those tests have returned positive results.

Khaldun said nearly 5 percent of those tests are coming back positive, an indication that the state is seeing spread across the state. Going through different regions in Michigan, Khaldun said nearly all regions have seen positive test increases in coronavirus cases.

"These are challenging times, and the virus is spreading," Khaldun said Wednesday. "But we really should not feel helpless. We have what it takes to get control of this virus, and we've done it before."