Michigan’s local health departments are plotting new restrictions as bureaucrats are alarmed by a rise in COVID-19 cases that apparently are not being blunted with vaccinations.
WZZM speculated another lockdown may be “in sight”:
With Kent and Ottawa Counties moving into the substantial rate of spread over the weekend, health departments are continuing to recommend masks and vaccinations, but they haven’t made them mandatory.
“It’s definitely time for all those who have the public health authority to issue mandates to be thinking about what they might issue,” said Marcia Mansaray, Deputy Health Officer with the Ottawa County Department of Public Health.
While health departments are mulling over their decisions, one person who is no longer able to step in and decide is Gov. Gretchen Whitmer [D]. Last year, the governor cited the 1945 Emergency Powers Act to order pandemic responses.
In October, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled the law unconstitutional. But quickly after the court’s decision, Whitmer issued similar orders through the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, and those powers remain.
Whitmer has complained about those who have criticized her lockdown actions and for threatening her power.
“I was sued by the Republican legislature here in Michigan. I lost in the Supreme Court. It was a Republican-dominated Supreme Court. I lost some of those executive powers,” she told MSNBC.
She continued, “We do retain some powers, but we are so incredibly divided after, I think, the politics of the last 14 months,” referring to the presidential election.
Whitmer has urged universal masking in schools, regardless of vaccination status.
Michigan’s COVID cases have risen over the last month, from a low seven-day moving average of 138 on June 28th to 1,191 on August 9th. Despite this, daily new fatalities resulting from the disease have remained in the single digits since the beginning of April and its seven-day moving average has declined over the last few days. According to the widely cited COVID-data aggregator wordometers.info, the seven-day-new-death average statewide declined to two on Monday.
Still, the non-mandatory status of the governor’s recommendation is leaving some school administrators unhappy.
“It is extremely frustrating to see these recommendations issued with ever stronger language, but falling short of mandates,” Norway-Vulcan Area Schools Superintendent Lou Steigerwald told Bridge Michigan. “I strongly suspect that the folks issuing these recommendations know how controversial masks are in many areas. Issuing ‘recommendations’ instead of mandates is only making things more heated for schools.”
School employees criticized the Grosse Pointe School Board after it voted to make masking and social distancing optional during the coming school year.
“I think we feel very disappointed,” librarian Elizabeth Campion said, according to WDIV.
“I think it’s negligent,” Sarah Eisenberg, a social worker, concurred. “They have a duty to protect our kids and they are very intelligent adults, they’ve seen all the outcomes we’ve seen over the past year. They know these things work. They know they’re safe.”
Teacher Harry Campion accused the board of catering to a “small but vocal minority.”
WWMT reported Kalamazoo Public Schools is the only larger district in southwestern Michigan to mandate masks. But some schools, such as Mattawan, are rethinking the “masks optional” policy after the CDC’s ruling.
Plymouth-Canton Schools in Wayne County are also only recommending masks for students and staff—for now. Administrators have indicated that changing circumstances could lead to a mandate.
“We took a thoughtful approach (regarding the determination of protocols) instead of coming out and saying, ‘This is it’,” Plymouth-Canton Schools Superintendent Monica Merritt told Hometown Life. “We’re aligning our plans with the risk levels of the health departments: low, moderate, substantial and high. A shift in levels will create conversation that will focus on potentially changing our plans.”
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Bradley Vasoli is a reporter at The Michigan Star and The Star News Network. Follow Brad on Twitter at @BVasoli. Email tips to [email protected].
