North Michigan News

State Sen. Curtis VanderWall (R-Ludington) says Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has inflicted serious economic damage to his district.

VanderWall referred to the closures of two businesses in illustrating how Whitmer’s executive orders do more harm than good.

“Last week I shared the story of a family-owned business in my district — the Big Cat Brewery — that announced it was permanently closing its doors,” VanderWall said in his post published on the Michigan Senate Republicans’ website. “The Brewery is in Leelanau County, which has had a total of 11 COVID-19 cases and no deaths. Sadly, this is far from the only such story in my district. The Vitro Glass factory was Evart’s second biggest employer, until it also recently announced its permanent closure and the loss of 125 jobs.”

He was among the Senate Republicans who called on Whitmer to put the various experiences of many Michiganders into perspective about a month ago. When the governor finally listened, however, people were left with more questions than answers.

Several counties with more than 10 confirmed cases but no deaths were ordered to close two weekends ago while those where the coronavirus is hitting the hardest remained open, much to VanderWall’s dismay.

Simply put, the senator believes healthier, smaller counties are being punished for circumstances that are out of their control.

“COVID-19 has devastated parts of our state,” VanderWall said on the Michigan Senate GOP’s site. “But for others, the devastation — real devastation — has been economic, not medical. And while Monday’s announcement by our governor was a long-overdue small step forward for some parts of our state, others remain in a state of economic destruction that could have and should have been avoided.”

Michigan had 55,608 cases and 5,334 deaths as of May 28, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on its website.