Sunday morning, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer defended her stay at home order, saying that Michigan needed to take aggressive steps to limit the spread of COVID-19.
Whitmer appeared on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos. Citing many of the criticisms of the order, Stephanopoulos notes that the Michgian legislature has set up an oversight committee and asks if the order went too far.
"No," Whitmer said. "I know that what we have done the vast majority of people in Michigan agree with and have done the right thing. Because of that, what was looking to be an astronomical increase with the number of people who would lose their lives to COVID-19, we have flattened that curve."
Michigan has been one of the states to see high rates of infection and death, with thousands of coronavirus cases in just the city of Detroit.
"We had a unique issue here in Michigan. It was hitting us incredibly hard and that's why we had to have a unique solution. Even though it was more aggressive than other states, we have started to really push down that curve and we have saved lives in the process," Whitmer says.
Stephanopoulos also asked the governor about Democratic Michigan State Rep. Karen Whitsett who says that hydroxychloroquine, a treatment pushed by President Donald Trump saved her life.
"I know this state rep credits hydroxychloroquine with her success with COVID-19, but I do also know that the medical professionals are saying that that is not the case, that we should not make that assumption," Whitmer said.
Stephanopoulos also noted the recent comments by the president about looking into using disinfectant to fight the virus.
"All I know is this: When the person with the most powerful position on the planet is encouraging people to think about disinfectants. Whether it was serious or not, people listen," Whitmer said. "I think it's really important that every one of us with a platform disseminate medically accurate information. And I want to say, unequivocally, no one should be using disinfectants, to digest it to fight COVID-19. Please don't do it."
Watch the full interview here:
More stories on 13 ON YOUR SIDE:
►Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the 13 ON YOUR SIDE app now.
Have a news tip? Email news@13onyourside.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter. Subscribe to our YouTube channel.