LANSING - Governor Whitmer held a press conference on July 9th at 11:30am to give the state’s COVID-19 update and announce a new executive order.

This executive order requires all health care professionals to undergo implicit bias training to obtain or renew their license in Michigan.

“COVID-19 has had a disparate impact on people of color due to a variety of factors and we’ve got to do everything we can to address this,” said Whitmer.

Whitmer went on to recognize Michigan’s medical community as one of the first states that spoke up about COVID-19 affecting the black community more than others.

“We were one of the first states to report COVID-19 data by race, and ethnicity. When the impact of the virus are having this kind of impact on communities of color, we created the COVID-19 task force on racial disparities chaired by Lieutenant Governor Gilchrist,” said Whitmer.

Statewide, one in five cases are patients from 25 to 34 years old. Whitmer referenced in the video (linked below) that went viral on Twitter saying, “We cannot afford to play fast and loose with the rules." This gathering was in Cass County on Diamond Lake with over 150 people over the Fourth of July weekend.

“I want to be very clear, right now the law requires that anyone in an enclosed public space needs to wear a mask and that means every store you’re going into. We are reviewing that requirement and we are seeing if we need to take that a step further to strengthen compliance because we cannot let our guard down,” said Whitmer.

Governor Whitmer also took time to thank those who have manufactured and donated PPE items, especially thanking the Kingdom of Jordan for donating a shipment last month.

“The state of Michigan received from the Kingdom of Jordan 650,000 surgical masks, 10,000 medical overalls, 10,000 sets of eye goggles to the state of Michigan and we are grateful,” said Whitmer.

This will be Whitmer’s 144th executive order since the pandemic began as the governor, health officials and the medical community work to get ahead of COVID-19.