Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced Michiganders may need to stay home a little longer, after the state’s stay-at-home order expires at the end of the month.
In a Wednesday briefing, Governor Whitmer said there will likely be a short-term extension of the stay-at-home order in Michigan.
“There will be some kind of a stay at home order in effect for a long-time here. And I know when I say that, people will speculate ‘What does that mean?’ And what it simply means is that for the near future we know that it’s not going to be safe for especially the vulnerable population to be out and about publicly.”
Last week, frustrations with the Governor’s stay-at-home order drew several thousand people to protest at the capitol. The Governor did not specify how long she expects the extension to go on, or if the extension would affect the whole state.
Whitmer said she would reveal more on Friday. Whitmer also announced nearly 3,000 of the states’ 48,000 workers will be temporarily laid off to save the state money.
State employees who are subject to temporary layoffs will be automatically enrolled in the state’s unemployment system.
Governor Gretchen Whitmer said the state employees aren’t getting ahead of regular people applying for unemployment benefits.
“It doesn’t mean that they jumped the queue. It just means that, they won’t have to go out of their way to sign up. We’re asking a sacrifice of our state employees, so we wanted to take that off of their plate as a stressor as they try to navigate next steps.”
Layoffs are expected to save the state $5 million. As of Wednesday, more than a quarter of the state’s workers have applied for unemployment benefits.
Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, the state’s top doctor, said the state will need to run many more tests each day before it begins to evaluate how to re-open.
“So, we think based on talking to experts across the country. That we need to be able to get to at least about 15,000 tests in the state to be able to really get an understanding of who has the disease so we can guide our public health response.”
Earlier in the week, health officials said the state was only processing up to six thousand tests a day because of a lack of crucial re-agents and swabs.
The state has expanded its standards for who can be tested, so mildly symptomatic people and essential workers without symptoms should now be able to get tests.