O’Malley requests Governor opens up Mason County.

Rep. Jack O’Malley

O’Malley requests Governor opens up Mason County.

State Representative Jack O’Malley has sent a letter to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer asking her to consider opening certain businesses in Mason County. The letter follows the governor’s latest executive order allowed for the opening, in two regions, of retail businesses, office work that cannot be done remotely, and restaurants and bars with limited seating. The two regions include the Upper Peninsula and most northern Lower Peninsula counties, south to Manistee County and east to Roscommon County.

“Thank you for finally opening up Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and much of the northern Lower Peninsula,” wrote O’Malley, who represents the 101st House of Representatives district, which includes Mason, Manistee, Benzie, and Leelanau counties. “I certainly agree with a regional approach in terms of starting our economy back up, but this one needs an overhaul.

“One of the counties in my district, Mason, is being lumped in the Grand Rapids region while all three other counties are free to open come Friday. Madam Governor, in no way whatsoever should Mason county be in the zone that it is. I mean, when you look at the distance between Grand Rapids and Ludington by car, it is nearly 100 miles!

“With all due respect Governor Whitmer, you are picking winners and losers based on a very rigid plan. I ask you to please make some common sense adjustments to your approach and include Mason County with the rest of norther Michigan where it belongs.”

Mason County’s first confirmed COVID-19 case was on April 7 with a total of 27 confirmed cases to date, according to District Health Department No. 10, meaning an average of 1.5 cases per day, however there were many days with zero confirmed cases and some days with two confirmed cases; most days lately have shown either one confirmed case or zero (see www.dhd10.org for details).

The health department’s official data dashboard also states that there have been four recoveries; recoveries are based on the number of confirmed cases alive after 30 days from the confirmed date. To date, there have been no COVID-19 patients treated overnight at Spectrum Health Ludington Hospital. There have been no COVID-19 related deaths. Mason County has a population of 29,144 (2019, U.S. Census Bureau), which means that .09% of the population has been confirmed to have caught the virus. Michigan has had 51,142 cases out of 9,996,000 people, meaning .5% have been confirmed to have caught the virus.