LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Monday that she has the authority to issue a second stay-at-home order to curb the coronavirus if necessary, and she called a comment by an adviser to President Donald Trump urging people to "rise up" against Michigan's latest restrictions "incredibly reckless."
The Democratic governor spoke to reporters a day after announcing restrictions amid a surge of covid-19 cases that has led to increased hospitalizations and deaths.
Governors and mayors across the U.S. are ratcheting up covid-19 restrictions during a resurgence of the virus that is likely to get worse because of holiday travel and family gatherings over Thanksgiving.
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Whitmer responded to a tweet sent Sunday night by Scott Atlas, a science adviser to Trump, who urged people to "rise up" after the governor's announcement. Trump also has urged supporters to push Whitmer to reopen the state after virus restrictions, though many rules had been lifted previously.
Fourteen men were charged earlier this fall in an alleged plot to kidnap the governor in response to her previous covid-19 restrictions.
"It's just incredibly reckless considering everything that has happened, everything that is going on," Whitmer said. "We really all need to be focused on the public health crisis that is ravaging our country and that poses a very real threat to every one of us."
Atlas defended his tweet Sunday night from the torrent of criticism, saying he was not attempting to incite violence in telling Michigan residents to "rise up."
"Hey. I NEVER was talking at all about violence," Atlas said in a follow-up tweet. "People vote, people peacefully protest. NEVER would I endorse or incite violence. NEVER!!"
Atlas, a neuroradiologist and fellow at Stanford's conservative Hoover Institution, joined the White House as a pandemic adviser in August despite having no background in public health or infectious diseases. He has promoted a controversial approach that would fully reopen the U.S. economy by attempting herd immunity, implementing a strategy used by officials in Sweden that reportedly gained favor with Trump.
Public health experts in the U.S. and abroad have criticized the idea of using herd immunity, which would allow the virus to spread through the general population while protecting vulnerable people. Herd immunity is the goal of many vaccines, such as the childhood inoculation that prevents measles, but it is not commonly accepted as a way to control pandemics.
The World Health Organization has called the strategy of using herd immunity to tamp down the coronavirus pandemic "very dangerous" because many people would die in trying to reach that goal.
Under the restrictions that start Wednesday, Michigan high schools and colleges must halt in-person classes; restaurants must stop indoor dining; and entertainment businesses such as casinos, movie theaters and bowling alleys must close for three weeks. Gathering sizes also will be tightened.
Whitmer called it a "targeted approach" informed by epidemiologists and public health experts. She renewed her call for the Republican-led Legislature to codify a mask requirement in law in part to send a unified message to the public, calling it "the best weapon we have against our common enemy." The proposed legislation is opposed by GOP legislative leaders.
She noted that lawmakers enacted laws keeping intact unemployment benefits and addressing other matters after the state Supreme Court's October ruling striking down a law she repeatedly used to respond to the pandemic, but she said her administration can continue largely combating the pandemic unilaterally under a health law.
"This is precisely the power that one of the justices pointed to in terms of actions we can and should be taking throughout this pandemic," the governor said.
Michigan's seven-day average of daily new cases has more than doubled from 3,113 to 6,684 over two weeks. It is up nearly fivefold from 30 days ago. Daily deaths also have surged, from 25 to 62, according to The COVID Tracking Project. The number of patients currently hospitalized, about 3,000, has risen sixfold in under two months.
Asked if the state can do anything to assist closed businesses and employees who are soon to be laid off, Whitmer again urged Trump and Congress to enact a relief law. She said she and the governors in a loose "compact" of other Midwest states -- Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Kentucky -- will have a joint media event today.
STATE, LOCAL STEPS
State and local leaders are closing businesses or curtailing hours and other operations, and they are ordering or imploring people to stay home and keep their distance from others to help stem a rising tide of infections that threatens to overwhelm the health care system.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he is pulling the "emergency brake" on efforts to reopen the economy. He said the state is experiencing the fastest growth in cases yet, and if left unchecked, it will lead to "catastrophic outcomes." The move closes many nonessential indoor businesses and requires the wearing of masks outside homes, with limited exceptions.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's stay-at-home order went into effect Monday. Only essential businesses, including grocery stores and pharmacies, will be open.
In New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy on Monday restricted indoor gatherings to 10 people, down from 25.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves announced he is adding seven counties to his list of counties under a mask mandate, bringing the total to 22.
"Wearing a mask helps," Reeves said at a briefing with the media Monday. "It helps you. It helps your family. It helps your friends."
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt on Monday announced new restrictions on bars and restaurants and plans to require mask-wearing inside state buildings, the first state restrictions imposed since the economy reopened in May.
Stitt said that effective Thursday, bars and restaurants statewide must have all tables spaced 6 feet apart and must close in-person service at 11 p.m.
Virginia's largest public school system, in Fairfax County, is pausing plans to return thousands of children to classrooms -- an announcement that came the same day northern Virginia teachers unions urged Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam to switch the state to online-only learning.
In Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot called on residents in the nation's third-largest city to restrict social gatherings to 10 people starting Monday. In instructions that were advisory, not mandatory, she urged residents to stay home except for essential activities, such as going to work or grocery shopping.
A record-breaking total of nearly 70,000 people were hospitalized with the coronavirus in the U.S. as of Sunday, 13,000 more than a week earlier, according to the COVID Tracking Project. Deaths in the U.S. are running at more than 1,100 per day on average, an increase of more than 50% from early October.
The virus is blamed for more than 246,000 deaths and more than 11 million confirmed infections in the the U.S.
Vice President Mike Pence sounded an upbeat tone Monday on a call with governors, saying that the government is ready to help states where hospitals are nearing capacity and emphasizing that vaccines are coming.
"America has never been more prepared to combat this virus," he said.
TEXAS DEATHS
Additionally, Texas surpassed 20,000 confirmed coronavirus deaths Monday, the second-highest death count overall in the U.S., trailing only New York, according to researchers from Johns Hopkins University. It's the 22nd-highest per capita at 69.7 deaths per 100,000 people.
So far, Texas leaders have given no indication of forthcoming restrictions to keep people from gathering and spreading the virus. Instead, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in recent days has been emphasizing that new therapeutics and vaccines are expected to become available soon.
A state appeals court last week sided with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and lifted a local shutdown order in El Paso, where mobile morgues are being trucked in to help overwhelmed hospitals and funeral homes.
Texas last week became America's first state to record more than 1 million confirmed covid-19 cases. It also recently surpassed California, the most populous state, in recording the highest number of positive coronavirus tests. The true number of infections is likely higher because many people haven't been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected and not feel sick.
Information for this article was contributed by David Eggert, Mike Householder, Corey Williams, Rachel LaCorte and Sean Murphy of The Associated Press; by Katie Shepherd and Hannah Natanson of The Washington Post; and by Acacia Coronado and Leah Willingham of Report for America.