Michigan is experiencing one of its worst COVID-19 surges of the pandemic, but Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said on CNN Tuesday night she could envision the state fully reopening this summer.
CNN Situation Room Host Wolf Blitzer pointed to California’s recent announcement the state would reopen on June 15 and asked if Michigan would be able to make a similar announcement in the near future.
“I think it’s very possible that there is a path out of a lot of the orders that we’ve had to issue to keep people safe, but it all depends on getting to that 70% number,” Whitmer said, referring to the collective immunity the population has when that many people are vaccinated.
“...If we’re successful and people come in and do their part, we could very well be in that position this summer,” Whitmer said.
Right now, according to state data, 1.8 million Michiganders are fully vaccinated, just under 23% of the population. And 2.9 million Michigan residents -- 37% -- have gotten at least one dose.
State officials, including Whitmer, have focused on getting 70% of the eligible population vaccinated to reach a level of societal immunity from the coronavirus.
But the picture on the ground in Michigan right now isn’t optimistic. The state is averaging 5,931 new COVID-19 cases per day and 31 new deaths per day over the last week. It’s on par with what the number of cases the state was experiencing in November before the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services instituted restrictions that have since been largely rolled back.
And hospitalizations are rising. Last week, more than 1,000 people were hospitalized due to COVID-19, and four hospitals are at 100% capacity.
Related: Michigan coronavirus data for Wednesday, April 7: Hospitalizations up by 1,000 plus in past week
Whitmer attributed the increases to new variants.
“We were able to really push our infection rate down so low for such a long period of time. Now that variants are present here, we have lots of people that don’t have antibodies because we were successful,” Whitmer said.
Among the restrictions still in place in Michigan: indoor dining at restaurants is limited to 50% capacity, large outdoor stadiums are limited to 20% capacity and people are required to wear masks in public places.
Whitmer hasn’t instituted more restrictions as the virus has surged, and said Tuesday the problem was people’s lack of compliance with restrictions that were already in place. But she told CNN one area the state has seen a surge of infections in -- youth sports -- could see more restrictions going forward.
“We are seeing the spread continuing in teenage sports and frankly, it’s something that we’re very concerned about, and that’s why we’re doing even more testing and possibly going further than we have,” Whitmer said.
More on MLive:
Sports, spring break & sleepovers: COVID chaos as outbreaks increase in Michigan schools
Michigan coronavirus data for Wednesday, April 7: Hospitalizations up by 1,000 plus in past week
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