On April 12, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky urged Michigan to “really close things down” to combat the increase in COVID-19 cases.
Walensky said that Michigan needed to “go back to where we were last spring, last summer.” In 2020, Michigan was under a stay-at-home order from March 23 through June 1.
But state officials did not follow Walensky’s recommendation, and the number of new COVID cases has fallen sharply since April 12.
There was a seven-day average of 664 new confirmed cases per million in Michigan on April 12, according to state data. The seven-day average dropped to 218 as of May 7, the last day the state has complete data. Incomplete data indicate the decline has continued through May 13.
Michigan Capitol Confidential has reached out twice to the CDC asking officials to explain what caused Walensky’s advice to be inaccurate. The agency has not responded.
Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.