Are You Doing Enough To Stop COVID-19?

Gerry Andersen is the Executive Chairman of DTE Energy. He’s been with the Southeast Michigan based utility for years. Democratic Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer picked him earlier this year to be the chair of her Economic Recovery Council. It’s a panel of people advising the Governor on the state’s reaction to the COVID-19 virus outbreak. Over the weekend, Andersen made some comments that some feel are veiled threats to Michigan residents. He’s telling MLive that he’s not ready to tell the Governor she needs to backtrack on her virus closing and shutdown orders. But Andersen says it’s  “probably inevitable” that the backtracking will be needed if Michigan residents don’t buckle down and do more to stop the spread of the virus.

“Our hope is we can have moves related to people’s behaviors before we have to do things like regress economic activity further,” says Anderson. “If we don’t make changes in those realms, he says, you’re left with blunter tools, and you don’t want to get to the blunter tools.” That to some is beyond pushy. For other state residents, it’s just what they want to hear. A get-tough approach to a virus that by the state’s own numbers, adjusted in several ways, is claimed to have played a role in the deaths of 6,149 Michigan residents. That’s .062% of the total state population, fully 62-thousandths of one percent.

Governor Whitmer you remember earlier in the month, told interviewers on CNN that she just might have to push things back again. Close more businesses again since we as Michigan residents don’t appear to be doing enough to help her save lives. The Governor also recently moved us all back regarding face masks. The new requirements force us to wear masks in outdoor settings where people are congregating along with requiring us to wear masks any time we are in an indoor business setting. But businesses have been left to enforce the Order. That’s been met with limited success and a number of business no longer bother to challenge entering customers who are not wearing masks.