Whitmer: Lack of national coronavirus strategy ‘creating a more porous situation’

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) said Sunday that the lack of a unified federal approach to the coronavirus pandemic was creating a “more porous situation” that’s allowing the coronavirus to continue to spread and sicken more people.

“This is something that is aggressively growing in all age groups all across our most populous part of the state which is southeast Michigan,” Whitmer said on “Fox News Sunday.”

{mosads}“We don’t have enough tests and I know that’s not unique to Michigan,” Whitmer added. “In order to really get a handle on how many people have had COVID-19 we need to be doing much more robust testing.”

“I’m grateful for the help that we’ve gotten,” she said, but added “not having a national strategy where there is one policy for the country as opposed to a patchwork based on who the governor is something that I think is creating a more porous situation where COVID-19 will go longer and more people will get sick.”

Fox’s Chris Wallace brought up the back-and-forth between Whitmer and President Trump, who has referred to her as “’Half’ Whitmer” and accused her of “not stepping up.”

“None of the comments that I’ve made have been personal in nature, I don’t do that kind of thing,” Whitmer responded. “What I do though is I speak truth to power, it’s patchwork because we’re leaving it to the governors… I think that’s a fair thing to observe.”

“We’re grateful for any partnership we can get,” she added.

Michigan has more than 14,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and has seen 540 deaths. The state has issued a stay-at-home order.

Noting the virus’ economic impact on Michigan, which has the third-most cases among states, Whitmer told Wallace “the longer we’re combating this the harder it’s going to be on our economy …I do have a lot of people that are out of work now [but] at the end of the day I know I’ve got to listen to the epidemiologists.”

“The shorter we make it the better for our health and the better for our economy,” she added.