By WKTV Staff
The State of Michigan, like most governmental agencies, puts out press releases to media sources on a wide-range of issues almost daily. Some are important for the public to know; some are just routine governmental business. Some make the news and some do not.
We at WKTV have decided that in these times of COVID-19, of often-filtered news, we’d let the state departments say what they want to say to the pubic a little more directly. Following are links to State of Michigan releases from Thursday, April 2 — with a little emphasis given by our staff on what we found interesting.
https://www.wktvjournal.org/after-gov-whitmer-cancels-in-school-education-kent-isd-and-local-schools-exploring-options/For a special WKTV story on Gov. Gretchen Whitmer April 2 Executive Order 2020-35, which orders all K-12 school buildings to close for the remainder of the school year, follow this link.
Heath Department sets fines, other actions to enforce COVID-19 actions
In the wake of Thursday, April 2, reports that Michigan had recorded more than 10,000 cases of COVID-19 — with 417 deaths — the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) issued an Emergency Order setting a civil penalty of up to $1,000 and a process for referral to licensing agencies for violations of Executive Orders 2020-11, 2020-20 and 2020-21. Criminal penalties for violation will remain an option for prosecutors.
“A person can have coronavirus without knowing it,” Robert Gordon, MDHHS director, said in the release. “They can spread the disease to others who can spread it to others. The only way to stop the spread is social distancing. A civil penalty and potential licensing actions send a strong message to Michiganders that social distancing is essential to saving lives.”
The other April 2 release, listed by headline and with link, was:
After AG action, three U.P. businesses comply with ‘Stay Home, Stay Safe’ order
