Winter is Coming - Michigan Lockdown to Start Wednesday [Locked]
An official announcement is expected Sunday evening following a meeting with the governor and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. A news conference is planned for 6:00 p.m. eastern time. You can watch it live on TV6 and the TV6 & FOX UP Facebook Page.
Gov. Whitmer warned Thursday that she was “strongly considering” any action to combat COVID-19 spread as cases, hospitalizations and deaths are skyrocketing. The surge comes as the firearm deer season begins and Thanksgiving approaches.
The new order is again expected to come from the state health department. This is an entirely separate part of law than the authority Whitmer used to issue her original executive orders.
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The following new restrictions are now expected to be effective Wednesday and last for three weeks (updated from earlier version of this story which stated these restrictions would be effective Monday):
- Everyone must work from home unless impossible to do so
- No restrictions on indoor construction (updated from earlier version of this story which stated there would be limits on workers at sites)
- All high schools will be remote; external sports are canceled; special education and ELL services wll stay open in high schools; K-8 encouraged to stay in-person if possible
- No dine-in service for bars or restaurants
Michigan colleges and universities will be impacted, but it’s unclear exactly how.
OT season to return....Not sure what's worse, our football team or this.
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ckersh74
November 15th, 2020 at 3:47 PM ^
Likely the end of the MHSAA state football tournament as well.
Joined: 06/30/2008
MGoPoints: 41769
robpollard
November 15th, 2020 at 3:57 PM ^
Sad, but true, and right.
People were not policing themselves with high school sports; amazingly, things seem to have gotten more lax than from September. I follow a Michigan HS Sports account which posts highlights from various events. There was a high school volleyball game that had at least 150 fans in the stands (most appeared masked, which is good, but def not all); that doesn't include the players, coaches, refs and what looked to be the JV team. These were top-notch private schools in metro Detroit who know having people inside, for hours, is not a safe practice -- yet there they all were.
For some football games, I still saw student sections with dozens of kids crowded at the railing, yelling and cheering, w variable masking. Unbelievable.
When our state is racking up record number of cases & hospitalizations, and deaths are going to be at 100-plus per day, that just couldn't continue.
Oh, just in case we get any "it's not that bad!" folks on here...it's bad. Health care workers are burned the fuck out, and there's no one who can travel her from out of state to relieve them b/c it's bad to terrible everywhere.
https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/2020/11/12/west-michigans-spectrum-health-says-hospitals-near-capacity-amid-covid-surge/
Joined: 06/03/2009
MGoPoints: 14013
TheCube
November 15th, 2020 at 4:11 PM ^
Burned out healthcare worker here.
We're fucked.
Joined: 12/19/2018
MGoPoints: 31597
NittanyFan
November 15th, 2020 at 4:15 PM ^
I think Whitmer will allow the MHSAA football tournament to continue.
Whitmer is a political swamp creature first, so she'll decide this primarily from a political lens. There will be a pretty big outrage if the tournament is cancelled at this point - the remaining players and teams have the finish line in sight, and they've worked hard to get there. She'll calculate the outrage from those folk won't be worth it.
Joined: 12/04/2012
MGoPoints: 44012
Absorbine Sr.
November 15th, 2020 at 4:34 PM ^
Shut up.
Joined: 11/12/2020
MGoPoints: 3848
TIMMMAAY
November 15th, 2020 at 4:36 PM ^
How the fuck are you still allowed to post?
Joined: 09/08/2008
MGoPoints: 56336
Indy Pete - Go Blue
November 15th, 2020 at 3:51 PM ^
Of course this news comes out one day after Wisconsin humiliates our program to a new low. 2020.
Joined: 01/23/2018
MGoPoints: 158291
robpollard
November 15th, 2020 at 4:00 PM ^
This won't affect the Lions, Wolverines or Spartans.
They aren't allowing fans (most high schools were) and, more importantly, they have a testing & tracing regime that high schools can't remotely match. So it's high school & middle school sports which are getting paused/canceled.
Our football season (for better or worse) will continue.
Joined: 06/03/2009
MGoPoints: 14013
chrisu
November 15th, 2020 at 3:59 PM ^
So no OSU game?? Praise the Lord...
Joined: 12/27/2014
MGoPoints: 3262
Indy Pete - Go Blue
November 15th, 2020 at 4:28 PM ^
Oh no - there is no way the universe will allow that game to be cancelled this year. Deeper suffering seems unfathomable yet also inevitable.
Joined: 01/23/2018
MGoPoints: 158291
RGard
November 15th, 2020 at 4:33 PM ^
Drop 100 points on us. Sounds like a very accurate prediction now.
Joined: 10/20/2014
MGoPoints: 57397
Absorbine Sr.
November 15th, 2020 at 4:37 PM ^
I don’t get why people are all worried about OSU going for 100. I mean it’s not like Harbaugh taunted Day in the phone conference before the season began, or anything like that.
Joined: 11/12/2020
MGoPoints: 3848
crg
November 15th, 2020 at 3:59 PM ^
Not a surprise.
The numbers in Ohio are just as bad (worse in some places, especially Franklin County where Columbus is), yet Governor DeWine is really slow playing any action. He made an announcement last week that he *might* consider shutting down bars/restaurants/gyms if things get worse... curiously did not include sports teams and no hint of any work-from-home or shelter-in-place orders.
Joined: 04/30/2015
MGoPoints: 75057
LostPatrol14
November 15th, 2020 at 4:05 PM ^
“OT season to return....Not sure what's worse, our football team or this.”
lol our football program is quite worse, no question
Joined: 01/09/2016
MGoPoints: 4926
NittanyFan
November 15th, 2020 at 4:07 PM ^
About 40% of Americans are planning to gather with 10+ people for Thanksgiving.
https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2020/11/12/40-in-US-planning-large-gatherings-for-holidays-despite-COVID-19-warnings/1161605213219/
Unless Whitmer intends to literally criminalize people gatherings, her edicts to be issued later today will have almost no incremental impact on CoronaVirus spread. Many Americans have already chosen to live with the virus and have tuned her and other governmental leaders out.
These edicts WILL have an economic incremental impact on the various businesses effected, of course.
That's the reality we are in. Given that, what is honestly the point with another set of edicts?
By the way, I and others are highly dubious this will be "just for three weeks." We've seen that game before.
Also, as usual, these sets of edicts will not be a joint partnership between the Executive and Legislative Branches. Why exactly does Michigan have multiple branches of Government at this point?
Joined: 12/04/2012
MGoPoints: 44012
Shop Smart Sho…
November 15th, 2020 at 4:16 PM ^
"By the way, I and others are highly dubious this will be "just for three weeks." We've seen that game before."
Didn't the last lockdown end? Or are you still of the belief that it's just a power-grab to destroy people's lives?
"Also, as usual, these sets of edicts will not be a joint partnership between the Executive and Legislative Branches. Why exactly does Michigan have multiple branches of Government at this point?"
When the Legislative Branch is run by an obstructionist party determined to prove government doesn't work, that's what happens.
Joined: 07/10/2008
MGoPoints: 9626
NittanyFan
November 15th, 2020 at 4:27 PM ^
Tough crap if the Legislative Branch is "obstructionist." They exist and they have their enumerated powers in the State of Michigan Constitution.
(although there always is the "matches and gasoline" solution to the Legislative Branch)
I have been surprised over the past months how many folks support an all-powerful Executive Branch. To me, that's just nuts. Simply look at history over the years.
Joined: 12/04/2012
MGoPoints: 44012
Shop Smart Sho…
November 15th, 2020 at 4:32 PM ^
I answered your question about why the Executive and Legislative branches aren't working together.
"I have been surprised over the past months how many folks support an all-powerful Executive Branch."
Nah, you've simply created a reality in your mind where a significant population support an all-powerful Executive Branch.
Joined: 07/10/2008
MGoPoints: 9626
rob f
November 16th, 2020 at 1:03 PM ^
WARNING to NittanyFan:
I just reopened this thread when I saw this part of your above comment:
***(although there always is the "matches and gasoline" solution to the Legislative Branch)***
In light of the threats on Gov. Whitmer's life and the rest of that sordid plot (especially their plan to execute everyone inside and burn down the Capitol Building) by a group of anarchists, that comment is way out of line.
Any further such comments are likely to earn you a swift jet to Bolivia.
Since I'm immediately re-closing this thread, take your questions or complaints to the Mod Sticky thread.
Joined: 11/11/2010
MGoPoints: 195776
chunkums
November 15th, 2020 at 4:16 PM ^
Fewer dead human beings. That's the point.
Joined: 06/30/2008
MGoPoints: 29028
NittanyFan
November 15th, 2020 at 4:22 PM ^
The "reality" that I was referring to is that "a significant portion of society has given up on Lansing Government as an entity that knows how to reduce CoronaVirus spread. They have seen Lansing do their thing and they see that Michigan is in essentially the same spot today as 8 months ago."
So again --- given that reality, what is the point with another set of edicts? How does another set of edicts make the "significant portion of society that I refer to above" have increased confidence that Government is doing anything meaningfully impactful?
Joined: 12/04/2012
MGoPoints: 44012
HateSparty
November 15th, 2020 at 4:22 PM ^
We all get you are a right lean but this simplification of the situation as an "it is what it is" is as shallow a commentary as you could create absent of gloating over the actual hundreds of thousands of dead. Truly astonishing, even in this keyboard safe ignorance we live in.
Joined: 12/17/2014
MGoPoints: 27217
NittanyFan
November 15th, 2020 at 4:36 PM ^
But sometimes what is needed is a (1) blunt, (2) cold-hearted and (3) calculating son-of-a-bitch to simply state what reality is and say "it is what it is."
--------
My brothers, Mom and I had to place my Dad in a nursing home for Alzheimer's six years ago. We tried our best to keep him at home but things got simply untenable. It hurt my Mom's heart to make that move.
But ---- at that point, she needed someone in the family to be able to say "we love you Mom, this isn't your fault, it is nobody's fault. But this is reality. This sucks, but it is where we are. It is what it is. We have no choice but to accept that and go forward from here."
As it was, my brothers couldn't fill the role of saying that. So I did. In retrospect, she appreciates the message that I sent at that time 6 years ago.
---------
As for CoronaVirus, the current reality is this: "given that we are in the same spot today as we were 8 months ago, significant chunks of society have tuned out Government as an entity capable of reducing spread in a meaningful way. Any further edicts will have diminishing returns at best from a spread POV, while also hurting the economy and mental health in meaningful ways. The proposed cure does not appear worth the disease."
I am absolutely fine wearing the black hat. I am absolutely fine being the blunt, cold-hearted, calculating son-of-a-bitch on this one. The edicts aren't going to work. IT IS WHAT IT IS.
Joined: 12/04/2012
MGoPoints: 44012
HateSparty
November 15th, 2020 at 4:27 PM ^
All could be aided by simply wearing a mask. Sort of like strapping your baby in a car seat, wearing your own seat belt and giving your keys to a sober driver when you are drunk. No real impact on your fucking liberties, just decency and common sense.
Human Studies of Masking and SARS-CoV-2 Transmission
Data regarding the “real-world” effectiveness of community masking are limited to observational and epidemiological studies.
Seven studies have confirmed the benefit of universal masking in community level analyses: in a unified hospital system,38 a German city,39 a U.S. state,40 a panel of 15 U.S. states and Washington, D.C.,41,42 as well as both Canada43 and the U.S.44 nationally. Each analysis demonstrated that, following directives from organizational and political leadership for universal masking, new infections fell significantly. Two of these studies42,44 and an additional analysis of data from 200 countries that included the U.S.45 also demonstrated reductions in mortality. An economic analysis using U.S. data found that, given these effects, increasing universal masking by 15% could prevent the need for lockdowns and reduce associated losses of up to $1 trillion or about 5% of gross domestic product.42
Joined: 12/17/2014
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xtramelanin
November 15th, 2020 at 4:29 PM ^
by the same token, the UN estimates that 130 million people are now subject to starvation due to the shutdowns.
and three experts from widely divergent political view points put this together:
The Great Barrington Declaration – As infectious disease epidemiologists and public health scientists we have grave concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of the prevailing COVID-19 policies, and recommend an approach we call Focused Protection.
Coming from both the left and right, and around the world, we have devoted our careers to protecting people. Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health. The results (to name a few) include lower childhood vaccination rates, worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes, fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health – leading to greater excess mortality in years to come, with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden. Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice.
Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage, with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.
Fortunately, our understanding of the virus is growing. We know that vulnerability to death from COVID-19 is more than a thousand-fold higher in the old and infirm than the young. Indeed, for children, COVID-19 is less dangerous than many other harms, including influenza.
As immunity builds in the population, the risk of infection to all – including the vulnerable – falls. We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity – i.e. the point at which the rate of new infections is stable – and that this can be assisted by (but is not dependent upon) a vaccine. Our goal should therefore be to minimize mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity.
The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity, is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection, while better protecting those who are at highest risk. We call this Focused Protection.
Adopting measures to protect the vulnerable should be the central aim of public health responses to COVID-19. By way of example, nursing homes should use staff with acquired immunity and perform frequent PCR testing of other staff and all visitors. Staff rotation should be minimized. Retired people living at home should have groceries and other essentials delivered to their home. When possible, they should meet family members outside rather than inside. A comprehensive and detailed list of measures, including approaches to multi-generational households, can be implemented, and is well within the scope and capability of public health professionals.
Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal. Simple hygiene measures, such as hand washing and staying home when sick should be practiced by everyone to reduce the herd immunity threshold. Schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching. Extracurricular activities, such as sports, should be resumed. Young low-risk adults should work normally, rather than from home. Restaurants and other businesses should open. Arts, music, sport and other cultural activities should resume. People who are more at risk may participate if they wish, while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity.
Joined: 12/09/2014
MGoPoints: 15438
TIMMMAAY
November 15th, 2020 at 4:38 PM ^
Stop.
Joined: 09/08/2008
MGoPoints: 56336
Shop Smart Sho…
November 15th, 2020 at 4:38 PM ^
So on one hand we have a Koch-funded libertarian think tank babbling on about herd immunity.
On the other hand we have the head of the WHO, Dr. Fauci, the head of the NIH, the heads of Canada and the UK's national health systems saying the opposite.
Might want to take a look at how your political biases are impacting your decision making process when it comes to Covid.
Joined: 07/10/2008
MGoPoints: 9626
MichFan64
November 15th, 2020 at 4:09 PM ^
What has really disappointed me about the situation is that I don't think I have seen an ad by either the NCAA or the NFL during a game telling people to enjoy the football games, but to do so in a safe manner so that they are able to continue (i.e., don't tailgate, don't go to bars, don't gather as groups in a home to watch, etc.)
Joined: 11/24/2018
MGoPoints: 934
Carpetbagger
November 15th, 2020 at 4:21 PM ^
What really disappoints me is the number of people who still watch commercials, and furthermore think those commercials might impart information you could find useful.
Joined: 12/31/2010
MGoPoints: 6674
rob f
November 15th, 2020 at 4:10 PM ^
OT season will NOT return until next OT season.
Joined: 11/11/2010
MGoPoints: 195776
RGard
November 15th, 2020 at 4:38 PM ^
Yes, but Whitmer may issue and executive order declaring the OT season starts now. She could.
Joined: 10/20/2014
MGoPoints: 57397
hillbillyblue
November 15th, 2020 at 4:12 PM ^
I’m surprised there’s nothing about gyms.
Joined: 03/17/2012
MGoPoints: 7322
Dean Pelton
November 15th, 2020 at 4:12 PM ^
So we had a lockdown, but what about second lockdown?
Joined: 08/01/2020
MGoPoints: 9440
Tobias_Fünke
November 15th, 2020 at 4:18 PM ^
So much for “2 weeks to flatten the curve.”
Joined: 06/03/2019
MGoPoints: 3142
Shop Smart Sho…
November 15th, 2020 at 4:21 PM ^
Yep. They dumbed down the slogan too much, so a bunch of people thought they could just pretend that nothing was happening after the first 2 weeks.
Joined: 07/10/2008
MGoPoints: 9626
SecretAgentMayne
November 15th, 2020 at 4:24 PM ^
At least your governor is doing something.
hang in there everyone, and let’s get through this winter. At least we know this time the vaccine is literally right around the corner. USDA is reviewing data from the Pfizer vaccine trial this week and pending approval,15-20 million people are expected to be vaccinated in the US in December. Please just hang in there people.
Joined: 07/10/2019
MGoPoints: 10661
rob f
November 15th, 2020 at 4:37 PM ^
I'm locking this up in a few minutes. While I think the news is important and will keep the OP's thread posted, unfortunately too many pissing matches are already breaking out.
Joined: 11/11/2010
MGoPoints: 195776
Montana41GoBlue
November 15th, 2020 at 4:39 PM ^
Glad Im not in Michigan anymore.
oh and #FireHarbaugh
Joined: 09/12/2020
MGoPoints: 3