LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – In Thursday night’s debate between Michigan Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer and her Republican challenger Tudor Dixon, Whitmer came up with some reasons why she
wasn’t able to get the COVID-19 pandemic under control.

Even though she said, “Studies have shown that our action saved thousands of lives,” she admitted, “If I could go back in time with the knowledge we have now, sure, I would have made some different decisions. But we were working in the middle of a crisis and lives were on the line.”

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Dixon responded, “Not only did she make bad choices when she closed it down and refused to open our schools, but she hasn’t figured out how to recover.”

Evidence of Dixon’s statement is clear but it’s certainly not because of lack of action on the governor’s part. Whitmer came up with almost 200 Executive Orders in 2020 alone regarding the pandemic, making rules on everything from which businesses could stay open and school closings to the use of golf carts and more.

With 35,456 Michiganders having died with COVID-19, Whitmer has been criticized for multiple decisions about how she handled the pandemic, including her lockdown rules, nursing home policies and more.

Her own Michigan taxpayer-funded After Action Report (AAR) on the state’s pandemic response prepared by outside group Tidal Basin Group, showed “severe duplication of work” and a state that was too slow in adjusting to the response. The $1.5 million report also found that the State Emergency Operations Center housed with the Michigan State Police was largely ignored and not in control during the Whitmer administration’s response to the pandemic.

And now we have a new report out of the WalletHub titled “Safest States During COVID-19” that ranks Michigan in 50th place as a safe state against the coronavirus pandemic. The methodology used was to score rates of vaccination, positive testing, hospitalizations, death and level of community transmission.

The top five safest states were reported to be Alaska, Florida, Hawaii, Colorado and North Carolina.

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WalletHub says that “As the U.S. continues its efforts to fully overcome the COVID-19 pandemic and new variants, staying safe remains an important concern for Americans. Safety is also essential for getting the economy fully back on track, as the lower COVID-19 transmission and deaths are in a state, the fewer restrictions there will be
and the more confidence people will have to shop in person.”

Whether that in-person shopping ramps up to Michigan’s pre-COVID levels is unclear – as is whether the current staffing shortages and limited business hours will result in these businesses being able to service the returning customers.

According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Michigan lost 81,900 jobs during Whitmer’s tenure and Bridge Michigan reports that the state’s economy is “taking longer than most to recover from the massive job losses early in the COVID-19 pandemic” and that “Michigan fared worse than most other states under Whitmer.”

The restaurant industry specifically continues to suffer as they try to bounce back from early pandemic shut downs as well as other issues. Those who survived the pandemic were lucky not to be included in the permanent closing of at least 3,000 Michigan restaurants who were unable to pivot to a contactless food delivery model.

The Michigan Restaurant and Lodging Association conducted a survey in August 2022 that said they were worse off than even three months previous due to rising costs, labor shortages and supply chain issues in addition to being “saddled with debt from the pandemic.”