(WWJ) How long will Michigan's stay home, stay safe order last? The measure that effectively quarantines residents in their homes is due to expire on April 13, but the governor is "strongly hinting" it will be extended, experts say.
“As long as all the science continues to point toward social distancing being the most important thing that we can do, we're going to have to continue that stay-at-home order,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said during a recent town hall meeting.
She addressed it again on Wednesday, after asking the Michigan Legislature to extend a disaster declaration that gives her emergency authority during the pandemic.
"I would anticipate that there's a possibility that I will have to lengthen the stay home order," Whitmer said, "but precisely how long it is and when that announcement will be made, I'm not prepared to say right now."
But how will be it be extended legislatively amid worried that a gathering of the legislature could just, well, spread coronavirus? That's still up in the air.
WWJ's Charlie Langton reports some state lawmakers are fearful to gather in Lansing amid the coronavirus pandemic; and at least one from Detroit is refusing to meet.
Sherry Gag-Dagnano told FOX 2 this weekend, "there is a way to address this without putting others at risk."
Whitmer has asked legislators not to meet, but the leader of the Michigan House said representatives will be at work, in person, in Lansing on Tuesday. The current plan is to follow social distancing procedures like allowing only five members at a time inside to vote, and checking everyone's temperatures as they walk in.
This discussion about how long to continue stay home, stay safe is happening as the first glimmers of hope emerge for a flattened curve accross hotspots like New York, New Jersey, Italy and Spain.
In Michigan, cases and deaths continue to rise: As of Sunday April 5, Michigan had 15,718 cases of the novel coronavirus, with a total of 617 related deaths statewide. The official count, reported by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, includes 1,493 new cases and 77 additional deaths.