As people protest Michigan’s strict stay-at-home order, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is defending her decision to keep the state on lockdown.
“It’s better to be six feet apart right now than six feet under,” she said Friday on ABC’s Good Morning America.
Whitmer told anchor George Stephanopoulos she knows the financial impact residents are facing under the shutdown order and that the measures she has taken "weigh heavily" on her.
She said she hopes to be able to loosen restrictions on May 1 with mitigation measures in place. But Whitmer added it will be hard to predict where the state will be in two weeks from now.
Whitmer faces mounting pressure to ease restrictions in a state that has the third-highest death rate from coronavirus. On Wednesday, right-wing protesters stormed the capitol building to protest the governor. Four sheriffs have accused the governor of overstepping her authority.
She said she could handle four out of 83 sheriffs in her state "making a point," but asked people to not get "overly political" and to focus on the "public health."
Whitmer said she had to be “really aggressive” in fighting the “unique crisis” Michigan faces. And it is her job to protect the 10 million people who live in the state.