Dates that matter in Michigan’s response to COVID

Within the two years since the coronavirus blew into Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has gone from aggressively managing a response to barely acknowledging its existence.

The vaccines allowed Whitmer to push personal responsibility as the best way to keep folks safe from dying or falling seriously ill from COVID. Still the Governor was consistently criticized with playing politics with her decisions.

She never loosened up restrictions fast enough for Republicans. For some in her own party, she moved too fast.

Along the way, the following dates provide the best review of the dates that mattered in Michigan's response to COVID-19.

March 10, 2020—State's emergency management folks report the first two presumptive cases of COVID-19 in Michigan two hours after gubernatorial candidate Joe Biden was declared Michigan'spresidential primary winner.

The cases in Oakland and Wayne counties spark questions about the announcement’s timing. Anecdotally, Michiganders were coming down sick more than a week before.Now, two years later, the Department of Health and Human Services is chronicling 14 COVID cases from March 1, 2020, and two COVID deaths from February 2020.

March 12, 2020— Whitmer orders all Michigan K-12 school buildings closed from March 16 to April 6. The order triggers the first of 95 executive orders Whitmer signed in 2020 as a way to prevent the spread of COVID-19.Schools stay closed for the rest of the academic year.Within days, every "non-essential" industry is ordered shut through government action.

March 23, 2020 — Michigan becomes the 11th state to lockdown or stay-in-place. The three-week order bans operations that weren't necessary to "sustain or protect life." Whitmer ends up extending the order to April 30, May 28 and, finally, to June 19.

Police are told to issue $1,000 tickets to anyone caught violating the executive order, but relatively few were ever issued. At the time, an independent 501(c)3 nonprofits called "Act Now Coalition" projected that if Michigan had poor compliance with the "Stay Home, Stay Safe" order, 59,000 people could die. As of March 6, 2022, Michigan's death toll from COVID was 32,118.

March 27, 2020 — President Donald Trump’steady stream of insults toward Whitmer reaches a peak when he referred to her as "the woman in Michigan" and tweets "Gretchen 'Half' Whitmer." At the time, Whitmer was being considered as Biden's running mateWhitmer responds by wearing a "That Woman From Michigan" T-Shirt on The Daily Show.

April 15, 2020 — Between 3,000 and 4,000 pickups, 18 wheelers and cars jammed Lansing's streets leading to the Capitol to protest the governor's "Stay Home, Stay Safe" order. Operation Gridlock stretched down Michigan Avenue from the Capitol to near Frandor at one point.

The day prior, one public survey found 71% of Michigan voters approving of Whitmer's handling of the coronavirus outbreak.April 16 was the highest number of COVID-related Michigan deaths reported for any day of the pandemic at 164.

April 29, 2020 — The Legislature declines to extend the governor's emergency executive order authority another 30 days, spurring Whitmer to sign new EOs the next day anyway, claiming a 1945 state law gave her the power to do it without lawmakers' OK. The move ignites a showdown.The governor wins short term, but the Legislature ultimately prevails before the state Supreme Court in October. Lawmakerslater repeal the '45 law.

April 30, 2020 — A couple of dozen armed protestersroamd the Capitol and the state Senate gallery during the now-infamous "pro-liberty patriot" rally. While some now frame it as a "dress rehearsal" for the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol insurrection, police force was only used to remove two protesters from the House gallery. Four protesters are latercharged with plotting to kidnap Whitmer. The jarring presence of weapons inside the Senate chambers during a politically tense time spurs the Michigan Capitol Commission to ban long guns from the Capitol.

May 20, 2020 — Michigan's unemployment rate in April soars to a record 22.7%. The number is later revised to 24%.

May 21, 2020 — Attorney General Dana Nesselbans Trump from visiting another indoor Michigan facility after he shows up unmasked to the Ford plant in Ypsilanti. Trump visited Michigan five times in one week as the election neared, but all events were outdoors.

June 19, 2020 — The Unemployment Insurance Agency reported that 93% of everyone eligible for benefitswere approved and most of the remaining 7% who were not were suspected of fraud. The beleaguered agency struggled to keep up with new claims during the height of the pandemic, costing Director Steve Gray his job.

Jan. 22, 2021 — Director Robert Gordon abruptly resigns after conflicting with the governor behind the scenes over stricter COVID-19 orders. Whitmer pushes to loosen youth sports restrictions sooner than Gordon wanted amid stiff public pressure. Elizabeth Hertel, of East Lansing, replaces him.

March 12, 2021 — Records show the governor flew to Palm Beach to visit her ailing father. Outside the "Stay Home, Stay Safe order," Michigan never had any travel restrictions, per se, but extraneous travel was frowned upon.

May 23, 2021 — A complaint is filed against the Landshark in East Lansing after a photo of Whitmer seated unmasked with 12 other guests surfaces on social meetings. At the time, restaurants were limited to only seating six guests per table.

June 22, 2021 — The governor ends COVID-era restrictions 463 days after ordering schools shut. Some general policies remain in place, but any school closings or mask mandates were handled — from that point on — by county health departments, local governments or school districts.

Aug 22, 2021 — Board of Education member Pamela Pugh, the former chief medical adviser of Flint, asks the administration to impose a mandatory mask rule in every Michigan school building. She accuses the governor of putting politics before safety.Hertel says it is now up to local control.

Sept. 29, 2021 — A 70 billion budget, the largest in history, is signed into law, bolstered by an extra $5 billion in federal COVID-19 relief money and a huge influx in the sales tax collected from online sales. Only 16 months prior, state budget estimators projected a massive $6.2 billion budget hole.

Jan 3, 2022 — Omicron peaks in Michigan.A total of 24,788 cases were reported while 23,117 were reported the day after, likely a result of New Year parties spreading this highly contagious but less deadly variant.

Jan. 12, 2022 — Michigan's auditor general reports 8,061COVID deaths came from nursing homes or other long-term care facilities, making up about a quarter of all Michigan-related COVID deaths. The number became a flashpoint for Republicans, who claim DHHS was purposely undercounting the results, but the auditor's percentages were right around the 34% of COVID deaths that DHHS reported back in June 2020. Also, the auditor used a much broader definition of long-term care facilities than DHHS, which had been sticking with federal definitions in their reporting.

(Kyle Melinn is an editor and reporter for the Capitol news service MIRS.)