Michigan's Gretchen Whitmer Says COVID Surging Back Despite State Having Some of 'Strongest Protocols' in U.S. On 4/16/21 at 1:48 PM EDT Whitmer, a Democrat, made the comments on the MSNBC program All In With Chris Hayes. She also said, "We are seeing a resurgence of COVID all across our state, and I think some of it is because we as a nation did not rally to beat this virus. We have turned on one another, and this virus has taken an incredible toll on us. We in Michigan still have smart policies in place. I don't currently have all the same powers I did a year ago. But we do still have a mask mandate. We do still have our capacity requirements."