Hertel, Whitmer Administration Say New Statewide COVID Restrictions May Be Inbound

Michigan Freedom Fund Responds: NO NEW RESTRICTIONS!

LANSING, Mich. – The Michigan Freedom Fund today demanded that Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Health Director Elizabeth Hertel forcefully and publicly reject new unilateral statewide lockdowns, closures and other COVID restrictions.

Hertel, the director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, today told Michigan’s Independent Source of News and Information (MIRS) she would not ‘rule out’ new statewide restrictions, and alluded that unilateral statewide mandates and closures might be on the table.  “That’s a determination that needs to be made as the virus continues to spread across the state,” she told MIRS, when asked about the state’s ongoing decision to push education or mandates.

“Governor Whitmer’s lockdown orders have already decimated Michigan’s economy and put hundreds of thousands of our friends and neighbors on the unemployment line – the last thing families need are more unilateral, anti-science restrictions,” said Tori Sachs, Executive Director of the Michigan Freedom Fund.  “This isn’t the first time Whitmer and Hertel have flipped positions.  Michigan’s economy is already last in the Midwest and nearly last in the entire nation.  Time after time Whitmer and those close to her haven’t followed their own rules and restrictions. It’s clear Whitmer and her team thinks they’re in a special class where the rules are for the working class and not for them. No more.” 

Hertel’s statements to MIRS are a jarring about-face from recent public statements from the Health Department and the Governor.

Just last week, on August 11, Hertel told WXYZ TV in Detroit that the state had no plans to implement any new COVID-19 restrictions.

On August 1, Whitmer herself claimed that her hands were ‘tied’ and that her administration is unable to issue sweeping new unilateral restrictions.

The Michigan Freedom Fund works to advance conservative ideas, hold our government accountable to taxpayers, and protect Freedom, opportunity, and workers’ Constitutional rights. For more information, please visit MichiganFreedomFund.com.

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