Monroe Review

State Rep. Jason Sheppard (R-Temperance) recently criticized the latest executive orders issued by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for both their lack of consistency and the failure on the part of Whitmer to back up her decisions with data.

While casinos in Detroit -- the location of about two-thirds of the state’s 6,340 COVID-19 deaths, according to Michigan.gov -- are permitted to reopen with limited capacity, bars in the rest of Michigan cannot have more than 10 patrons indoors at a time, Sheppard noted on the Michigan House Republicans website.

Even by a recent case count, Sheppard notes that the Traverse City Region sits at 6.5 cases per million residents and the Upper Peninsula is at 16.5 cases per million. Detroit, on the other hand, still has 38.9 cases per million.

Rep. Jason Sheppard | Michigan House Republicans

“It makes no sense,” Sheppard told Michigan House Republicans. “At this point, the governor has changed so much without any clear data thresholds to spark the changes, there should be no mystery why people have questions about what the rules are and why the rules are different throughout the state.”

At the same time that Michigan businesses are once again facing additional restrictions that interfere with their operations and ability to put employees back to work, the state’s unemployment offices are closed, Sheppard pointed out. 

“How do you explain to someone that casinos are allowed to open, but it’s not yet safe for the state unemployment offices to reopen?” Sheppard said, according to Michigan House Republicans.

Sheppard said he has been contacted by constituents frustrated with trying to get a response through the unemployment office’s phone system.

“The message from the governor yesterday was that, while it’s not safe for her employees to return to work, it is okay for people to go and visit casinos in an area of the state with high numbers of cases of COVID-19,” he told Michigan House Republicans.