CDC Chief Urges Michigan To Close Down Again

Michigan is making national news for the rising surge in Coronavirus cases. Now, the director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending that the state "close things down."

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer urges people to voluntarily restrict certain activities, including high school in-person learning, youth sports and indoor dining. Dr. Rochelle Walensky’s, the CDC Director, said Monday that shutting things down again will help flatten the curve. In a white house briefing reported by WOOD TV, the chief said that the answer to Michigan's case surge is not necessarily to deploy more vaccinations to the state, but rather to flatten the curve by shutting things down.

Walensky stated,

"The answer is really to close things down, to go back to our basics, to go back to where we were last spring, last summer and to shut things down, to flatten the curve, to decrease contact with one another, to test to the extent that we have available, to contact trace. "

She added that Michigan can not try to vaccinate it's way out of the surge.

Andy Slavitt, senior White House coronavirus adviser,  said during a press conference,

“In states like Michigan where we are seeing troubling metrics, we are taking action by deploying resources in four critical areas: shots in arms, personnel, testing and therapeutics."

He noted that they have sent more FEMA personnel specifically to Michigan to help get more shots in arms across the state.

As of April 8, Michigan has administered more than 5 million doses of the COVID vaccine. In all, Michigan has now had 738,023 total cases since the virus was first detected in March 2020 and 16,500 related deaths.