Restaurant owners across the state have complained about the three-week dining pause that, they say, could potentially push them out of business.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer tackled that topic, and more, live on WWJ 950 Wednesday morning, where she said anytime multiple households are inside together -- it's a problem.
"That's why restaurants in particular are concerning," Whitmer told Roberta Jasina and Tom Jordan. "There are so many different households together with their masks off, eating, and it's indoors ... All the experts are telling us this is one of those places where we really need to tighten up to get our numbers down."
Restaurants have said the fallout will be catastrophic if the pause extends past Dec. 8. Some have refused to close and urged others to do the same, others have filed lawsuits. Whitmer refused to say directly if she thinks the shutdown for dining will be extended.
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"It's just too early to know where we're going to be five days from now," she said, adding, "I'm as eager as anyone to re-engage on this front, but we've just got to be sure we're being smart."
She added it's a dangerous situation for healthcare workers as hospital cases mount. And experts are braced for another wave of cases from Thanksgiving, when data showed many refused to follow orders to stay home. Meanwhile President Donald Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani plans to come to the state today in a continuing protest against the election results that gave the state to Joe Biden. Whitmer said it was a head scratcher to bring people together in a pandemic to 'have a conversation that the people of Michigan have already put a period on the sentence,' but she could only hope Trump supporters wear masks and social distance.
Coronavirus cases from Thanksgiving and this week will arrive "smack dab in the middle of Christmas, a time when people might be doing the same thing and exacerbating the problem," Whitmer said about when the next wave will come.
On an optimistic note, Whitmer predicted change will come soon so the hard part could come to an end after just two more hard months. "This time next year, it'll be very different ... We'll be able to resume a lot of things in the next few months," she said.
Does that mean kids will be returning to school next week? Whitmer supported the idea, saying the goal needs to be getting kids back in school and safely keeping them there. "This has taken a toll on so many of us and we need to reach out and help one another through this time and we also need to be sensitive to children who may be absorbing all this stress and maybe not in the best environment for them and missing out on this crucial education they need."
She's been waiting on Washington to help businesses with another coronavirus support package for the last six months, and said without a solution she's hoping Michigan's legislators come together and pass their own aid package. "We do have an opportunity to do $100 million targeted relief for a lot of these businesses that are struggling. It would be targeted relief for the unemployed that are looking at the end of the year and possibly losing their benefits and not knowing how they're even going to survive. It would be an opportunity to do some of the work we have to do to begin to distribute vaccines.
"I'm glad to see there's some conversation in Washington about maybe getting something done between now and the end of the year but we've been waiting on them for six months."