Governor Gretchen Whitmer says states will decide when to lift restrictions on travel and gatherings – not President Donald Trump.
She says Michigan and other states are in the best position to decide how to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Whitmer is defending her stay-at-home order – and the fact that it’s among the strictest in the nation.
Whitmer appeared on the “Today” show Wednesday morning.
“Michigan has the third-most COVID cases in the nation right and we are not the third-largest state in the nation. That tells you we’ve got a unique crisis on our hands, and that it demands a unique solution,” she says.
She says people can transmit COVID-19 without realizing it. She says that’s why she’s enacted limits on travel and gatherings.
“The more people that are traveling, the more people that are touching that gas pump. We know that COVID-19 can survive for 72 hours on stainless steel,” she says.
The governor says the pace of new infections in Michigan appears to be slowing, but she says restrictions should remain in place until that number declines.
“We’re seeing our curve start to flatten, but we all have to continue doing our part," she says.
The current executive order is set to expire on April 30.
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