By Zachary Gorchow
Executive Editor and Publisher
Posted: May 21, 2020 3:58 PM

The governors of most of the Great Lakes states and Kentucky declared they would move in tandem on reopening their states' economies about five weeks ago, but in that time Governor Gretchen Whitmer has departed from the more rapid reopenings taking place in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and Minnesota.

Wisconsin we won't include after the state's conservative Supreme Court ruled the state's governor lacked the authority to issued stay-at-home orders and flipped the switch on a reopening in one fell swoop.

The states have taken very different approaches. Indiana and Ohio set a phased reopening based on the calendar with various activities authorized to resume on specific dates scheduled weeks in advance. Ohio at this point is no longer under a stay-at-home order but instead under a health advisory that still imposes some restrictions.

Illinois has a plan that comes closest to what Ms. Whitmer has set up for Michigan, reopening more of the state depending on the status of the virus and other factors. Unlike Michigan, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, whom Ms. Whitmer has often referenced in interviews, set forth some highly specific numbers the state had to meet like the percent testing positive for COVID-19, the trajectory of hospital admissions over a certain number of days and having a specific surge capacity present in hospital ICU, medical and surgical beds.

Ms. Whitmer has a six-phase plan, but it's much vaguer than the Illinois one.

What appears to be governing her decisions is observing over a period of a week or so whether Michigan continues to be trending in the right direction on new cases, the percent of those tested coming up positive, continuing to build up personal protective equipment, hospital capacity, what fields are bringing the most pressure to reopen and best assuring they can do so safely and a recognition that more people are starting to look for ways to reengage their lives in the safest manner possible.

Republicans have pounded Ms. Whitmer for not moving in mid-April to reopen most of the state.

There have been a few orders that some of those traditionally allied with Ms. Whitmer have privately questioned, like the one prohibiting "nonessential" medical procedures (which the governor announced today would be lifted on May 29).

The governor's six-phase plan seems something of a moving target. Prior to last week, with the state in Phase 3 and dine-in service at restaurants and bars slated to resume in Phase 5, there was panic in the restaurant industry about how far off that designation loomed.

But then Ms. Whitmer moved the Upper Peninsula and most of the northern Lower Peninsula to Phase 4 and in doing so allowed dine-in service to resume at bars and restaurants in those regions with reduced capacity. The governor, explaining why she took that action with dine-in service scheduled for Phase 5, explained that Phase 5 means unrestricted dine-in service. This of course prompted some questions because there was nothing in Phase 4 about allowing a partial reopening of restaurants.

All this said, a battery of polls shows the public decisively backing Ms. Whitmer's handling of the crisis. For as much as Republicans, who clearly are acutely aware of the governor's soaring popularity, have slammed Ms. Whitmer's handling of the crisis, the vast majority of the state is not on the immediate reopening train. And an overwhelming majority disagrees with the protesters showing up at the Capitol armed and screaming at police officers.

And yet there was an interesting finding in the survey the Detroit Regional Chamber commissioned by Glengariff that came out this week. A clear majority of the public, 58 percent, believes it is time to start trying to find a way to reengage something resembling normal life – a new normal, to be sure – and gradually reopen the economy with all the new precautions and safeguards. Those who advocate for keeping strict limitations on public movement until there is a vaccine or treatment for COVID-19 are vastly outnumbered.

Ms. Whitmer has repeatedly said polls have no role in the reopening decisions she is making.

But it has to please the governor and her team to see the public solidly backing the approach she has taken, even if it's been more difficult to decipher and anticipate than the state's neighbors.