Amid some confusion over the latest Stay Home, Stay Safe order extension, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer addressed the public with some new information and clarification. Video of the press conference can be viewed below.
“No one wants to move onto the next phase more than I do,” says Whitmer. “As your governor, I’d much rather be working on fixing the damn roads.”
Whitmer says her immediate concern is trying to keep everyone in Michigan safe, and will make sure that employers and businesses in the nursery and greenhouse industry will have opportunities to secure small business loans and USDA relief dollars. She says inaccurate information has been disseminated and wanted to clarify that the following purchases are NOT prohibited in the latest Stay Home, Stay Safe order:
- Car seats
- Bug spray
- American flags
In her address, Whitmer acknowledges anger and frustration surrounding COVID-19 and the limitations these orders have caused, and asks protestors to express their thoughts and feelings in a safe manner, and not to prey upon other peoples’ anxieties.
Jeff Donofrio, Director of Labor & Economic Opportunity, says that over a quarter of Michigan’s workforce has now filed for unemployment benefits and admits that Michigan is one of many states whose websites have struggled to cope with the surge in claims. Claims are backdated to reflect the date on which a worker is laid off due to COVID-19 regardless of how much time has passed, and the date claimants file will not affect benefits.
A message at Michigan.gov states:
ALERT: 4/13/20
(Update 3 p.m.):Service has been restored to nearly all state of Michigan applications, except for the online unemployment benefit portal Michigan Web Account Manager (MiWAM). The issues that caused an outage earlier this morning have been resolved and applications are performing at 100 percent. Work continues to identify and resolve the concerns impacting MiWAM and a timetable for restoration is not available.
