A judge refused to shut down the Owosso barber who defied Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's stay-at-home order.

Shiawassee County Circuit Judge Matthew Stewart said on May 21 that the state’s argument that barber Karl Manke was a public health threat “must be actual and not theoretical,” according to The Detroit News.

The judge also challenged a state Attorney General lawyer in court by asking, if Manke was a threat to public health why was he not arrested?

On May 16, Attorney General Dana Nessel said in an interview that putting Manke in jail was a “very, very last resort.”

On Monday, May 4, Manke defied the state order and opened his barber shop.

On May 3, Shiawassee County reported having 184 cases of coronavirus and 12 deaths, the day before Manke reopened, according to the Argus Press. Shiawassee County had 246 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 21 deaths as of May 20, according to the state.

Shiawassee County has a population of 68,122.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has offered various rationales in support of her coronavirus epidemic stay-at-home orders. In one instance she pointed to touching surfaces as one way the COVID-19 virus spreads, and that doing so has exposed “people to risk, serious risk.”

"Every time you ask a low income person to come out and fill up their gas tanks, go get food. It’s additional opportunity for exposure and for spread. And that’s what happens,” Whitmer said in an April 9 press conference.

In an April 21 New York Times op-ed, Whitmer wrote, "Each action has been informed by the best science and epidemiology counsel there is."

The Centers For Disease Control is saying that the science is still unsettled.

The CDC has posted a “How COVID-19 Spreads” document that includes this:

• "The virus does not spread easily in other ways -

  COVID-19 is a new disease and we are still learning about how it spreads. It may be possible for COVID-19 to spread in other ways, but these are not thought to be the main ways the virus spreads:

• From touching surfaces or objects. It may be possible that a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes. This is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads, but we are still learning more about this virus."