Governor Gretchen Whitmer says she is “disappointed” by the actions of many of the people who were in Lansing on Wednesday to protest her executive orders regarding COVID-19.
“I support your right to free speech, and I respect your opinions. I just urge you: don’t put yourselves at risk, and don’t put others at risk, either,” she said during a Wednesday afternoon briefing. Despite the urging of organizers for people to remain in their cars, a lot ignored that and were walking around, carrying signs, and being in close proximity to each other.
“The sad irony here is that the protest was that they don’t like being in this ‘Stay Home’ order, and they may have just created the need to lengthen it, which is something we’re trying to avoid at all costs,” said Whitmer. “I’m not saying that’s what’s going to happen, and I’m not predicting that a certain percentage of people get sick. But I know that just by congregating, they’ve made that a real possibility. They’ve endangered other people’s lives.
“I saw someone handing out candy to little kids, bare-handed. People are flying the Confederate flag, and untold numbers who gassed up on the way here, or grabbed a bite on the way home. We know that this rally endangered people,” said Whitmer, noting coronavirus can survive on stainless steel like a gas pump handle for 72 hours.
Other problems with the protest included the ambulance entrance to Sparrow Hospital in Lansing being blocked, and the Capital Area Transportation Authority had to issue a notice to bus riders that some service was being impacted. It was the largest protest rally around the Capitol since the Right to Work protests during the lame duck legislative session in 2012.
