Guided by facts and science, Michigan Gov. Whitmer says backlash may necessitate extending lockdown (then admits 'no proof' protests have spread coronavirus)

Doug P. | 3:10 PM on May 14, 2020

When it comes to backing Michigan out of some of the lockdown measures she’s imposed, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says her decisions will be guided by facts and science:

I know that this has been a nerve wracking time, and that we’re eager to get back to our usual lives. I am, too. But, I’ll be frank — this virus doesn’t take our feelings into consideration. We have to stay steady, let the facts and science guide us, and do our part.

— Governor Gretchen Whitmer (@GovWhitmer) May 8, 2020

And with that, Whitmer said protests at the Capitol (there was another one this morning) could cause her to have to extend the stay-at-home orders:

Whitmer says protests ‘make it likelier’ Michiganders will have to stay home longer https://t.co/xDOpkC6ygR

— MLive (@MLive) May 13, 2020

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer tells @TheView protests make it more difficult to reopen state's economy.

"These protests, in a perverse way, make it likelier that we're going to have to stay in a stay-home posture." https://t.co/nBgq7r5uzu pic.twitter.com/w8GXaQYVxK

— ABC News (@ABC) May 13, 2020

But it’s possible that Whitmer’s decisions don’t always need to be guided by “facts and science”:

'I don't have proof': @GovWhitmer unable to back up claim that protests spread coronavirus https://t.co/XMOX3n3Bi9

— Jewhadi™ (@JewhadiTM) May 14, 2020

Hours after the appearance, a reporter asked Whitmer during a press conference, “What proof do you have to show that that’s happening?”

“I don’t have proof. I’m [not] following everybody home and taking their temperatures and watching them for two weeks,” the governor replied, later defending the claim by discussing the method by which the novel coronavirus spreads.

“The way that it spreads is person-to-person contact, that it can stay in the air for a while, that when you’re closer than 6 feet, not wearing masks. It is when you are touching one another. We saw a lot of that at these protests at the Capitol. And that’s how COVID-19 spreads,” she said.

And we also know how government overreach spreads.