US News: Governor Gretchen Whitmer Provides Update on Michigan Response to COVID-19

Good afternoon. Today is Tuesday, July 28th. I'm glad to be with you and I am glad that you've joined us. I am also joined today by, of course, Dr. Janae Khaldun, our Chief Medical Executive, the Director of the State Budget Office, Chris Cole, Sandy Berua, the President and CEO of the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce, and Paola Mendeville, the co-owner of El Granjero Mexican Grill in Grand Rapids. I also was wearing a mask when I started that says vote because we have an election in one week. And if you've got an absentee ballot, I encourage you to throw it in the mail today or tomorrow to make sure that your vote gets counted. And if you haven't yet voted, go online and figure out how to do that safely. In Michigan, we have spent more than four months fighting back hard against COVID-19 and the pandemic that has ravaged the globe. People across the state have made unprecedented sacrifices throughout the crisis. We know that Michiganders have missed funerals and weddings and graduations and births and birthday parties. And I've always said that the greatest thing about being a Michigander is the people who call our state home. Celebrating and spending time with our families and our friends and our loved ones. It's in our blood. It's who we are. It's what makes life, life. And whether it's over a beer at our favorite restaurant or at the sandbar on a lake or in church on Sunday, that's how we define our big life moments and our happiest moments. And yet this virus has forced us all to put aside those traditions for the greater good. The vast majority of Michiganders have done just that. You've stayed safe at home. You've worn a mask when you've gone out in public. You've maintained six feet of social distancing. In the past, we have proven that when we work together, we can push these numbers down and we can save thousands of lives. But what we know, too, is that this virus is still very real. It is still very present and we cannot let up for one second. Because while we've continued to keep the number of deaths in Michigan low over the past several weeks, our case numbers have continued to increase since June. So we've got to all double down and do our part right now. Please wear your mask, maintain physical distancing and get tested. As I said, the vast majority of Michiganders have been doing their part to fight this virus. As a state, we've done tremendous work together. And if you look at the national news, you see that there are states that are in a terrible crisis where we were months ago. But if we're going to continue to beat back this virus and help our state recover, we need more help and leadership at the federal level. Last week, I called on the president to issue a federal mask mandate. Because when more Americans wear a mask in public, we can save lives and put ourselves in a better position to send our kids back to school this fall. Governors of both parties and at least half of the states have issued mask orders to protect their residents. I think of Kay Ivey in Alabama, who's required everyone to wear a mask in indoor spaces, very similar to what we have done here in Michigan. Wearing a mask has been proven to reduce the spread of COVID-19 by 70%. Modeling from the University of Washington indicates that more than 40,000 lives, 40,000 American lives would be spared nationwide if 95% of us wore a mask. And last Monday, the president tweeted that it's patriotic to wear a face mask when you can't socially distance. I applaud his statement and urge him to embrace a nationwide mask order. Back up that statement and let's take action. We need to require masks on public transport, indoors and outdoors when six feet of distance can't be maintained. We have a chance to save tens of thousands of American lives. I'm hopeful that we will seize this opportunity. A federal mask mandate would be a great start. But we also need a strong recovery plan from the federal government to help our small businesses, our owners, the first responders, our state government, our local government, so that we can all recover from this. Yesterday, the president and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell released a plan that fails to support states and communities as we continue to respond to this crisis. Their plan does not give the adequate relief to millions of hardworking Americans who've lost their job as a result of the mishandling of this crisis. And last week, 1.4 million people across the U.S. filed initial unemployment claims. That's the first increase since April. And yet, the proposal that just came out of Washington would reduce pandemic-related unemployment benefits that have been a lifeline for so many people, including 1.1 people in our state who are relying on that $600 federal supplement to make ends meet before it expires. Making matters worse, the U.S. Senate Leader and the White House are also proposing to move to a complicated benefits system that would create an already overburdened state unemployment agency, would give them more work to do in terms of months that it would take to implement. And that means families who are already struggling would struggle for longer, waiting on the help that they need. Our working families can't go that long without this important economic lifeline. So the proposal that came out of D.C. yesterday ties critical funding to our schools, critical funding for the education of our kids, to reopening plans and makes it contingent on that. Here's what we know about education. We can't, we've got to continue to follow the that we can't move unless we know it's going to be safe to do that. The Michigan Safe Schools Plan that I announced last month requires districts to put together plans for three different phases of the My Safe Start. I want to thank our parents and local health experts, management and labor leaders in our schools. They're playing a vital role in this process, and parents everywhere, I hope that you are engaged as well. We've got to show respect for one another in cooperation. That's how we're going to get through this together. In April, the United States Senate Leader McConnell said that he'd rather see states declare bankruptcy than to give us the federal support that we need. And while the tune has changed a bit in recent days, I can tell you that the plan they put on the table does not accomplish the goal of helping states. And I implore everyone in Washington, D.C. to stop the partisanship and get something done. I have been spending a little bit of time writing some remarks for a memorial for Governor Milliken. And it just strikes me that in this moment, it's more important than ever, that we have leaders that are not going to be tethered to political parties, but are going to be tethered to getting this done for the people of this country. Because COVID-19 doesn't stop at a state border. It doesn't observe party lines. This is an insidious virus that has hurt us all and damaged our economy. So what we need is the U.S. Senate to come to the table ready to negotiate with the House. The House has shown leadership in the Heroes Package that would dramatically improve our ability to support our frontline workers, to expand access to health care, to help our local municipalities do the important work of tracing, and gives us the kind of support that we need to educate our kids in a safe manner. Now, I know how this works. The Senate's got to put their print on it. But they got to come to the table and get this done and get it done now. Michigan is not the only state calling on them. We need them as Americans to deliver for us all. We're grateful for the leadership of the U.S. House and hopeful that the Senate will come ready to get serious and negotiate, and that the President will sign something quickly. The COVID-19 pandemic has required sacrifice and leadership. It has demanded that we all work together to protect each other. Michiganders are doing their part. We're showing the rest of the country what it looks like to work together against this crisis. In Michigan and states across the country, we need the Trump administration and our federal representatives to get this done. As I've said, every one of us, doesn't matter what party you're in, every one of us has to be a part of making sure that this country navigates the pandemic and comes out stronger. That's what we need right now more than anything. I'll continue to do my part, working with my fellow governors on both sides of the aisle, calling on Washington to deliver for everyone in this state and beyond our borders. And I'm hopeful that Michiganders will continue to do your part. Mask up, take care, look out for one another, and show one another a little bit of grace. These are trying times. We will get through this together if every one of us does our part. And with that, I will hand it over to our Chief Medical Executive, Dr. Janae Keldon. Thank you, Governor. So today, we are announcing 79,176 cases and 6,170 total deaths due to COVID-19 in Michigan. Overall, for the past two weeks, we've seen a plateau in the number of daily new cases. We continue, as the Governor said, to see low levels of deaths and hospitalization rates remain steady. These are both very good signs. The rate of new cases, however, continues to vary by region. The Detroit, Grand Rapids, and Saginaw regions all have a little over 40 cases per million people per day. The good news is that the Grand Rapids region has seen a two-week steady decline in the rate of new cases. And today, we will be able to move them out of the high-risk category. The Kalamazoo and Lansing regions have over 30 cases per million people per day, but they have seen a recent decrease in cases as well. The Jackson region has just under 30 cases per million people per day, although this area has actually seen a continued slow increase in the case rate for the past six weeks. The Upper Peninsula and Traverse City areas are seeing under 20 cases per million people per day as well. So, each region of the state also, this is good news, is now meeting the goal for testing in their region, which is a good sign. Combined, over the past week, we've tested an average of 27,000 people per day, and that's 5,000 more people than the previous week. However, we continue to see the percent of tests done that are positive slowly creeping up, and last week, that was about 3.7%, up from 3.6% the previous week. As I've said before, 3% is the cutoff that many experts say you want to be under to know that you're not having community spread of disease. And while we're not as high as some other states across the country are that are seeing a significant surge, this is something that we definitely want to continue to monitor. When there's increased testing and the percent of tests that are positive goes up, it indicates that there may be community spread going on. I also want to spend a little time talking about what we are seeing with outbreaks across the state. So, last week alone, there were 78 new outbreaks identified by our local health departments, and I'm going to break those down for you. 31% of those outbreaks were associated with nursing homes or other adult care facilities. 22% of those were associated with social gatherings. 10% were associated with workplaces, and another 9% were associated with restaurants. Other places where we are finding outbreaks include child care, agricultural work settings, bars, personal care services, and gyms. And there are still times, and this is important, when the local health department is unable to identify where a person may have gotten the disease from. Local health departments last week were able to identify a source of infection for about 32% of the new cases that occurred, meaning we don't know where about 68% of cases were exposed. This means it continues to be incredibly important for people to do the basics. Wear your mask, wash your hands, and maintain six feet of distance away from others as much as possible. There's still many new outbreaks that we're identifying every week, and there's evidence that they're spread in the community. And we also know that people can spread the disease even when they do not have any symptoms. I also want to continue to emphasize that we must make sure that you're getting tested. Anyone who's working outside of the house, anyone who's been exposed or has symptoms of COVID-19 should get a test. You can still go to our website, www.michigan.gov forward slash coronavirus test, or you can call 2-1-1 and they can help you find a testing site as well. We've also talked a lot about case investigation and contact tracing. So once the state receives a positive test result, state and local public health staff are reaching out to about 90% of those people who tested positive within 48 hours. However, we're still only able to complete that initial interview of those positive cases about two-thirds of the time, mostly due to people having wrong contact information or not answering the phone. Our preliminary data is also showing us that about a third of people who test positive are already in quarantine at the time that we contact them. This is an important metric that we will continue to monitor. The more people know that they've been exposed and are in quarantine before they have a positive test result, the more we will be able to box in the disease. This is why contact tracing work is so very important. However, as I mentioned, we're still having challenges with people not answering the phone, wrong contact information that were received at the time they got the test, and people not wearing a mask.