Holland Reporter

After the Michigan Supreme Court recently voted 4-3 to declare a 1945 law, under which Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has issued most of her executive orders, to be unconstitutional, much of the discussion that followed has centered on what that ruling means in a practical sense for residents.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan (D) recently appeared on WJR’s "The Paul W. Smith Show" to talk about why the loss of power behind those executive orders doesn’t mean Michiganders should simply abandon all the health practices that have been dictated over the last several months.

“This is the last area we need partisan fighting on,” Duggan told Smith. 

Mayor Mike Duggan | City of Detroit

With the start of the usual flu season, with climate conditions that typically already increase the transmission of common viruses, Duggan said that it’s even more important now than before for people to be careful about actions that could aid in the transmission of COVID-19.

“The death rates are down, but the infections are continuing to rise,” Duggan told Smith.

Duggan said that he expects many of the restrictions enumerated in Whitmer’s orders will be restored shortly in a manner that does comply with the state’s constitution, and that this is a time when Michigan needs to be ramping up efforts, not easing off of them.

Smith said that if the numbers are up, they were rising under the restrictions.

“So are these the right things? All of the different things that she’s come up with, if in fact we are seeing an uptick in the numbers?” Smith asked Duggan.

“Sure they are,” Duggan replied.

Duggan told Smith that Detroit, which was a national hot spot for coronavirus infections and deaths for months, with large numbers of the population infected early on and now immune, now has one of the lowest infection rates in the state.