YPSILANTI, MI - Republican lawmakers have long called on Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration to identify specific metrics used to determine COVID-19 restrictions on Michigan businesses, and last month, they passed a Senate bill that would set concrete case and hospitalization rates to trigger shutdowns.
Under that bill, dine-in restaurant services would now be shut down as the state continues to experience a surge in rates of coronavirus infection.
Republicans say the measures proposed in that bill were only a starting point for discussions on tying metrics to economically impactful precautions. But the fact that Michigan has already surpassed one of the proposed thresholds shines a brighter light on the state’s current strategy of forgoing new restrictions.
During a Monday visit to the Eastern Michigan University COVID-19 vaccine clinic, Whitmer pointed out that the Senate-approved bill would trigger shutdowns if it were law, emphasizing the importance of context, as opposed to individual statistics.
“If that was the law now, everything would be closed right now and that speaks to exactly why identifying one number or two numbers doesn’t tell the whole story,” she said. “Public health experts will tell you you got to look at the context and that’s precisely why we do look at positivity rates, hospitalization rates. We’re talking to Trinity, St. Joe’s — who are incredible partners here for this event — to find out what are they seeing in terms of their hospitalizations, how old are the people, are they younger, what are the outcomes — all of these things are factors that go into our response.”
Senate Bill 250, passed by a vote of 20-15 on March 25, would require the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to issue emergency orders limiting indoor dining to various degrees based on a range of positive coronavirus test rates and hospital capacity metrics.
At the current seven-day average of positive test rates, MDHHS would have to issue an emergency order to completely restrict indoor dining if the bill were law. As of Monday, April 12, the average positivity rate over the last seven days was 16.1%.
Read more: Michigan Senate passes bill that would tie restaurant closures to COVID-19 cases
These are the requirements proposed in Senate Bill 250 when the positive test rate is between 15% and 20%:
“If this state has a test positivity rate of greater than 15% to not more than 20% for not less than 7 consecutive days... the emergency order must close the qualified establishment to indoor dining and limit the occupancy of a meeting or event held at the qualified establishment to a maximum of 10 individuals from not more than 2 households.”
A “qualified establishment” refers to a food service establishment or an event venue, according to the bill.
The other measure that would determine closures under the bill is the seven-day average percentage of the state’s hospital beds used by patients with COVID-19. Out of 26,495 hospital beds across Michigan, there are 4,118 patients with suspected or confirmed diagnoses, meaning 15.5% of beds are occupied. Monday was the first day of more than 15% occupancy since December, so that metric cited in the bill has not yet been met.
The legislation may never reach Whitmer’s desk. Senate Bill 250 was referred to the House Committee on Government Operations.
Abby Walls, spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake, said the bill was meant as a starting framework for a conversation on setting metrics for emergency orders
“The people of Michigan can’t be finding out what restrictions are one day at a press conference,” Walls said.
Whitmer has been seeking a boost in vaccine allocations from the federal government, but those requests have been denied.
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Michigan’s surge can’t be fixed with vaccines alone.
“Really, what we need to do in those situations is shut things down,” Walensky said during a Monday White House press conference. “I think if we tried to vaccinate our way out of what is happening in Michigan, we would be disappointed that it took so long for the vaccine to work, to actually have an impact.”
Read more: CDC director says Michigan can’t ‘vaccine our way out’ of coronavirus surge
Michigan has been enduring the worst COVID-19 surge of any state, according to an April 1 report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Michigan outpaces the nation for new cases per 100,000 in population, the percentage of people testing positive for COVID-19 and confirmed COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100 inpatient beds.
The latest data shows more cases were reported in Michigan between Wednesday and Saturday, April 7-10, than the entire month of February.
On April 6, Whitmer told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Michigan could fully reopen by summer if enough vaccines were distributed to reach collective immunity.
The CDC’s Monday recommendation of a pause in the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine could throw a wrench into those plans. Health officials had been using the single-shot J&J vaccine across the state.
On April 9, Whitmer asked high schools to go virtual, youth sports to pause and residents to avoid indoor dining for two weeks. She stopped short of ordering a mandatory two-week pause.
That same day, House Speaker Jason Wentworth, R-Clare, released a statement saying he would like to see all remaining restrictions removed. The Michigan Republican Party said Whitmer can’t blame them for the current situation with the pandemic.
“Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s draconian lockdowns and incoherent shutdown orders have destroyed livelihoods, hurt families and kept kids back from their education,” said Ted Goodman, the state party’s communication director, in an April 12 statement. “All this damage has been wrought by the Whitmer Administration, and Michigan still leads the nation in new COVID-19 cases.”
Whitmer has not indicated her administration plans to remove any remaining restrictions, which right now includes a 50% limit on indoor gathering.
“We each have enough information to do our part and that’s what we’re calling on people to do,” she said Monday in Ypsilanti.
Read more from MLive:
Michigan reports 4,000+ coronavirus hospitalizations for first time since December
School districts weigh response to Gov. Whitmer’s request for two-week sports pause
These West Michigan schools are staying in-person despite governor’s remote learning recommendation
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Michigan restaurants would be shut down under GOP bill that sought to tie COVID-19 restrictions to metrics - MLive.com
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