Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.Photo: Bill Pugliano/Getty
Michigan Gov.Gretchen Whitmerapologized Sunday for a photo that shows her out to dinner with a group of friends, in violation of the state’s latest COVID-19 restrictions.
TheDetroit Newsreportsthat Whitmer, 49, is seen in the photo with 12 other people sitting at two tables pushed together.
“Throughout the pandemic, I’ve been committed to following public health protocols,” Whitmer said in a statement released on Sunday. “Yesterday, I went with friends to a local restaurant. As more people arrived, the tables were pushed together. Because we were all vaccinated, we didn’t stop to think about it.”
Whitmer continued: “In retrospect, I should have thought about it. I am human. I made a mistake, and I apologize.“The governor received her second vaccination dose last month, according toTheDetroit News. But that didn’t stop critics from sounding off on her dinner.
“For@GovWhitmerit’s, ‘rules for thee, but not for me,’ " the state’s Republican Partytweetedon Sunday, in response to the photo.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on April 29, 2020.AP/Shutterstock
Whitmer has faced fierce criticism from conservatives over her state’s COVID-19 restrictions, including calls for her to resign and threats of violence.
Trump, 74, and his supporters' calls to “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!” in response to Whitmer’s shutdown orders last year led to armed protests at the Michigan state Capitol, where police and armed protesters faced off inside the building.
Conservatives have repeatedly accused Whitmer and her family of violating the state’s COVID restrictions since the pandemic began last year.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2018.
Whitmer was criticized after her husband, Dr. Marc Mallory, traveled across the state and urged a northern Michigan docking company to install his boat in the water during the statewide stay-at-home orders.
Mallory hadasked for preferential treatmentbecause he was the governor’s wife, prompting further backlash. Whitmer later claimed that her husband was joking.
Then last month, conservatives criticized Whitmer fortraveling to Floridafor two days to visit her ailing father whom she said has a “chronic illness.” The governor called the criticism “maddening” and said she wasn’t “out partying in Miami,” but rather helping her sick father.
“It was certainly not spring break,” Whitmer responded to backlash over her visit. “I was doing both my job as governor from a distance and being that of a daughter who was helping out a parent who needed a little help.”
Michigan has had one the nation’s strictest COVID-19 restrictions.
The state currently has the third-highest COVID-19 case rate in the country, behind Florida and Texas, with 1,429 new cases per day. According to a New York Times tracker, there have been 985,443 total cases and 20,125 deaths, the eighth-most in the country.
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source: people.com
