Whitmer says she’s focused on COVID-19 relief, won’t let ‘conspiracy theories’ distract her

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer repeated her call for lawmakers to pass her plan for how to allocate billions in federal COVID-19 aide on Wednesday, using a news conference to say she is both eager to negotiate and say conversations between leaders are not really happening. 

She’s asked lawmakers to take up her $5.6 billion COVID-19 relief plan before, but it’s gained little legislative traction. House and Senate Republicans each have their own plans — the fact that three plans exist indicates compromise is not imminent. 

“Even if members of the Legislature want to indulge in conspiracy theories or want to hurl insults, I remain ready to work together to deliver for the people of this state. My judgement will not get clouded by that noise,” Whitmer said. 

This seems to be a reference to Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake, who recently said “too many dead people voted” and was recorded saying he’d contemplated challenging the governor to a fistfight on the state Capitol grounds. 

More:Whitmer scolds lawmakers for failing to allocate billions in federal COVID-19 relief funds

More:Mich. Senate GOP releases new COVID-19 relief plan, different than House and Senate plan

The governor stressed on Wednesday it’s crucial for everyone to come together, find common ground and agree on how best to allocate these already approved federal funds.

While the state budget director has spoken with some lawmakers and Whitmer continues to have regular meetings with legislative leaders, she did not indicate specific talks on how to appropriate relief funds were ongoing. 

“We are eager to find some common ground here,” Whitmer said. 

“Every minute that goes by that we are not deploying those resources threatens our ability to get back to normal.” 

Michigan remains slightly above the middle of the pack when it comes to states administering COVID-19 vaccine doses. As of Wednesday morning, it ranked 20th for doses administered per 100,000 people, according to the CDC. 

The state has distributed almost 2.3 million vaccine doses as of Monday, with more than 1.6 million administered as of the same date, according to state health department data. 

“About 14% of Michiganders have received at least one dose, and over 514,000 people are fully vaccinated, over half a million people, meaning they have received both doses of the vaccine. Over 35% of people over the age of 75 in the state have had at least one dose of the vaccine,” said Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, the state’s chief medical executive.

Khaldun said COVID-19 trends remain encouraging. The number of cases per million is down 85% from a mid-November peak. At 3.9%, the test positivity rate has dropped for five consecutive weeks. And the percent of hospital beds used for COVID-19 patients is 5.2%, down 79% from its peak in the fall.

More:Michigan expands COVID-19 vaccine eligibility as hospitals, health departments feel supply pinch

More:Restaurant industry advocates propose a plan for indoor dining tied to COVID positivity

Given the improvements in essentially all key COVID-19 metrics, businesses leaders are renewing efforts to further ease restrictions on restaurants and other small operations. 

Mandates currently restrict indoor dining to 25% of total capacity or 100 people, whichever is less. Eateries must also close for indoor service from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. When the state allowed indoor contact sports to resume, they also extended these restrictions through March 29. 

On Wednesday, the Michigan Restaurant and Lodging Association released a detailed plan for how they believe the state should allow restaurants and other hospitality businesses to operate. The plan involves metrics, based on the COVID-19 test positivity rate, for any restrictions: The higher the test positivity rate, the greater restrictions.

If the rate drops below a certain percentage, then more people should be allowed to eat inside with fewer restraints on operating hours and whether patrons must stay seated. The association is also advocating for the state to move up hospitality workers in the hierarchy of who gets vaccines, arguing they should be included in a group of people eligible for vaccines potentially as soon as May 1. 

For months, the businesses industry has asked Whitmer and the health department for how defined COVID-19 metrics correlate with how businesses can operate. This would create some reliability and hope for businesses, giving them guidance and some expectations on when they may be able to return to normalcy, advocates argue. 

The Small Business Association of Michigan and the National Federation of Independent Business both came out in support of the plan on Wednesday. 

However, the governor and health experts have been reticent to craft any sort of redline, arguing such efforts in other states have not reduced case rates and that it limits their ability to quickly react to a changing situation. They specifically point to new, highly contagious variants of the coronavirus: if an outbreak is found in a community, the test rate may remain low for a few days but the state wants the authority to take strict action to stamp out the threat. 

Whitmer reiterated that she understands the restaurant industry has been disproportionately affected by the pandemic, but gave no clear indication of when the state would roll back any restaurant restrictions. 

“I will always take input, but what we really need right now is partnership to focus on the pathway out of the pandemic, and that is through this COVID recovery plan,” Whitmer said, referencing her relief proposal. 

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Cases of the variant are on the rise in Michigan, Khaldun said. Late Tuesday, the state announced 90 people who work or are incarcerated at Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility in Ionia tested positive for the B.1.1.7 variant. Cases of the same variant also previously prompted the University of Michigan to postpone sporting events and attempt to restrict student movement for several weeks earlier this year. 

Michigan now has 157 confirmed cases of this variant, also known as the United Kingdom variant, said Sarah Lyon-Callo, the state’s epidemiologist during a Wednesday morning news conference.

That ranks the state third nationally with the most UK variant cases, behind only California and Florida.

“These variants are very concerning,” Lyon-Callo said, noting that the UK variant is 50% more transmissible.

Cases have been detected in 12 Michigan counties in the lower peninsula, Lyon-Callo said.

“Our purpose in tracking the variant is to try to slow its spread as much as possible so that we can get as many vulnerable residents or individuals in the state vaccinated, fully vaccinated, before that variant can act to increase our case count,” she said.

President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit the Pfizer facility in Portage on Thursday, where the pharmaceutical giant is producing COVID-19 vaccines in high demand across the world. 

The federal government buys vaccines directly from producers before distributing them to states. While Biden has pledged to ramp up the number of doses sent out each week, governors across the country all say demand far exceeds supply. 

Whitmer has asked the Biden administration for the authority to purchase vaccines directly from Pfizer. It’s a request she likely knows would be denied, given the ramifications and possible free-for-all that would occur if states were allowed to start bidding directly with companies for these doses. 

She said Wednesday she had little to share publicly about his visit or whether she would attend, but she said she appreciated his decision to come to the state. 

Contact Dave Boucher at dboucher@freepress.com or 313-938-4591. Follow him on Twitter @Dave_Boucher1.

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