North Michigan News

Gerry Anderson, cochair of the Michigan Economic Recovery Council, DTE Energy executive chairman and chair of Business Leaders for Michigan, joined "The Frank Beckmann Show" on July 9 to discuss Michigan COVID-19 data and whether people are taking the proper precautions to protect themselves and prevent the spread of the virus.

Michigan has seen a huge impact on employment due to the coronavirus pandemic, and many have a concern about when the job loss will end. 

"Well, it has been economically painful, and we had done a really good job of putting this virus back in the box, so to speak," Anderson told Beckmann. "We were one of the states that looked positioned to jump back in economically. But one of the things we're seeing now is early signals that we're at a tipping point again, because we're seeing cases rise -- and rise significantly. They're up sixfold since early June."

Not only are coronavirus cases rising once again, but the attitudes that Michigan residents have are changing. But Anderson said it's important to keep working on suppressing the virus.

Data shows that 40% of Michigan residents aren't as concerned with the coronavirus today as they were a month ago, Anderson told Beckmann.

"I think that probably comes with the declining cases and less news about hospitals being overrun and so forth," he said on the show. "We also found that almost 50% of the residents say they're either conflicted, confused or casual now about following health and safety guidelines."

Attitudes and behaviors may be changing because people yearn to return to the way their life was before the pandemic hit, Anderson said. 

"But unfortunately, when we let down our guard with this virus, it gets the opportunity to do what it's doing elsewhere in the country. And economically that's really painful," he told Beckmann. "And that's of course dangerous from a health perspective, but economically really dangerous, too."

Coronavirus cases in Michigan continue to rise. At the beginning of June, the number of new cases being seen daily was at 84, Anderson said. Between then and now, cases are up sixfold at 537. Without discipline and following guidelines, Michigan may not know when it will be able to return to a pre-pandemic state, which is why it's so important to follow guidelines to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, Anderson said on the show. 

"Bottom line, everybody wants to get things back to normal, but you can't rush something like a virus," Beckmann told his listeners. "It doesn't pay attention to what we need in our pocketbooks, in our homes and our families. This virus knows only one thing, and that is to spread and keep itself alive. And sadly, that's a danger to us as long as it's out there."