The GOP-led state Legislature’s ongoing feud with Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has seeped into the budget process for the next fiscal year, with the state House proposing major funding cuts and attempting to exert more control through a quarterly budgeting process.
While the pandemic continues to worsen here in Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Wednesday urged Michiganders who contract COVID-19 and have pre-existing conditions to consider an antibody treatment.
As Michigan leads the nation in the number of cases and the highest rates of hospitalizations for COVID-19, the head of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is recommending new health restrictions.
Despite Michigan’s COVID case rate, mortality rate and hospitalizations increasing in every region of the state, state health officials remain hesitant to say whether business closures or stricter restrictions are on the horizon.
Nate Turner writes that some Michigan officials "have failed to understand their own state’s history dealing with a deadly virus. The 1918 influenza epidemic proved that statewide restrictions work and should be enforced even if officials don’t agree with them."
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) reported Wednesday that a total of 672,259 Michiganders have tested positive for COVID-19 and 16,092 have died from the virus — an additional 6,311 cases and 10 deaths since Tuesday.
DHHS spokesperson Lynn Sutfin said the state “will continue to monitor the data to make decisions including three key metrics: case rates, percent positivity, and hospitalizations.” Sutfin said the DHHS’ goal “is to reengage while reducing public health risk, which is why we move slowly to maintain progress and momentum with thoughtful public health measures.”
The U.S. Department of Education announced Wednesday the $122 billion in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding that will go to states “to support their efforts to reopen K-12 schools safely this month and equitably expand opportunity for students who need it most.”
State lawmakers have introduced bills in March on topics ranging from expanding unemployment benefits to protecting members of the LGBTQ community from discrimination to barring employers from requiring workers to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
A year after Michigan officials recorded the first two positive COVID-19 tests on March 10, 2020, two state lawmakers who had the virus — one Democrat, one Republican — have recovered. But their views over how to handle the pandemic that has killed almost 16,000 Michiganders underscore the Capitol’s deep partisan divide.
A NOTE FROM OUR EDITOR
Become a monthly donor today
A monthly donation of $5 or more can make a difference.
