Michigan Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey confirms he had COVID-19 in December Dave Boucher, Detroit Free Press
First COVID-19 vaccines administered at University of Michigan
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The leader of the Michigan Senate who has often criticized the state s approach to combatting the COVID-19 pandemic tested positive for the coronavirus in December, a spokeswoman confirmed Wednesday.
Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake, tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19 on Dec. 23, said Amber McCann, a Shirkey spokeswoman. McCann said the lawmaker believes he was exposed on Dec. 19 and had not been in the Capitol since Dec. 18, the last day the full Senate met in session for the year.
Michigan Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, a Republican, blasted what he called her “continued abuse of families and their livelihoods.”
“I’m dismayed by Governor Whitmer’s continued closure of local businesses,” Mr. Shirkey said in a statement. “This is another display of the tone-deaf response we continue to hear from the Governor. Overreach by the Governor has crippled an entire industry and peripheral supply chain businesses.”
He said the “notion that she can select a perfect time for restaurants to open as opposed to allowing these local businesses to open when they are ready, continues the ‘government knows best’ attitude from the executive branch that is causing people and capital to leave Michigan,” he said.
by Alan Stamm A partial gun-safety step for the state Capitol is adopted five days after a rampage at the U.S. Capitol stunned the world. The Michigan State Capitol Commission voted unanimously Monday to ban the open carry of firearms at the state Capitol . ahead of anticipated protests next week, The Detroit News reports from Lansing. The vote comes after years of consideration of a potential ban on gun possession in the Michigan Capitol, a debate that ratcheted up last spring during armed protests of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer s stay-home order. During an April 30 protest, dozens of people some of whom were armed went inside the Capitol, demanded entry to the House floor and stood with firearms in the Senate gallery above lawmakers while they were in session.
Republicans say they can’t ban concealed weapons because it would be difficult to enforce. Democrats say that’s a lame excuse that keeps no one safe as the FBI warns of more armed protests.