Last Friday, October 2nd, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that the governor lacked the authority to extend emergency orders that have been in place since March. The lifting of these emergency orders would remove limitations on rules that require social distancing, the use of masks, and gathering sizes.
Following court proceedings that took place last week, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that the state’s governor, Gretchen Whitmer, lacked the authority to extend her state of emergency guidelines beyond April 30th. While the court officially lifted the governor’s emergency orders, she has filed a motion with the court to decide whether they would be immediately lifted or if they would extend coverage until the end of the month.
While there are still questions over when the orders will be officially lifted, Michigan’s Attorney General Dana Nessel has said that the laws put forward within the orders will no longer be criminally prosecuted within the state.
The most direct impact on swimming, should the orders be lifted, is the limitations they place on gathering sizes. In areas such as Ann Arbor, home of the University of Michigan, indoor gatherings were limited to 10 people while up to 25 people were allowed to gather outdoors.
This would mean that indoor pools could now have more than 10 individuals inside at once. Besides allowing more flexibility for swim teams to resume training, that would also improve the financial viability of indoor swimming facilities re-opening.
Michigan has been one of the slowest states in the country to reopen, not allowing the use of outdoor pools until June 8th and not officially opening indoor pools until September.
The state of Michigan has had 128,923 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 7,139 deaths attributed to the virus, per the state’s latest statistics.
Thank you Mi Supreme Court for your rational thinking.