LANSING, MI - Governor Gretchen Whitmer held a press conference on Wednesday, August 5th at 10:30 am.

The conference went live on social media platforms Facebook and Twitter to give an update on the COVID-19 response and in attendance was Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist II, Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, and the mayor of Flint, Sheldon Neeley and announced a series of initiatives to prevent discrimination and racial inequity in Michigan.

Whitmer signed an executive order to create the Black Leadership Advisory Council of Michigan and work closely with them focusing on issues African Americans face in the state and work closely with them and said, “Since I’ve been sworn in as governor, I’ve made it a top priority of mine and my administration to include more people of color, more women, more members of the LBGT plus community, more people who are representative of the socioeconomic, classes in Michigan and geographical areas in Michigan at the table. Not in a tokenism way, but in an empowered way.”

Gov. Whitmer also declared racism a public health crisis in Michigan and signed another executive directive and said, “This pandemic has confirmed and highlighted the deadly nature of these preexisting inequities caused by systemic racism, and directed all state employees to require implicit bias training, including herself, and her executive office. The training is required for both existing employee's must be completed within 60 days for newly hired employees. This is not alleging people are racist, it’s recognizing that everyone has biases from where we grew up or how we were raised. It’s a fact and we have to acknowledge it and seek to address it. We have a lot of work to do to eliminate the systemic racism that Black Americans have experienced for generations.”

Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist II, Chair of the COVID-19 task force and racial disparities spoke on the work they were doing and says, “These past several months have been difficult for all of us, as we have dealt with this virus that moves quickly and silently. The Coronavirus itself doesn’t discriminate, but literally feeds upon the discriminative inequities that exist in our system. "

Gilchrist mentions inequities that have taken the lives of many people of color have motivated every Americans from every background to confront the legacy of systemic racism and that has been a stain on our nation for centuries and added "It is not enough to simply label an injustice," Gilchrist said. "We have to actively take steps to replace injustice with justice."

Dr. Khaldun also addressed racism as a public health crisis and gave an update on communities of color and says that communities of color have are disproportionately impacted by many health conditions, whether its cancer mortality, heart disease, diabetes, maternal and infant mortality; and now COVID-19. “The disparities have nothing to do with genetics and race. By declaring racism a public health crisis, we must tackle this with urgency and intention. As of Tuesday, August 4th brings the total of COVID-19 cases to 84,050 and 6,220 deaths in the state and overall seeing a plateau in cases after an uptick in June and July.”

As of Tuesday, August 4th brings the total of COVID-19 cases to 84,050 and 6,220 deaths in the state and overall seeing a plateau in cases after seeing an uptick in June and July and went over how the disease has spread looks different by region with statistics, as well testing.

Michigan has conducted 28,000 per day and is about 2 percent of the state’s population per week, Khaldun says and added, “The percent of positive tests is trending down in the state and is now at 3.4 percent, which is down from 3.7 percent from the previous week. Hospitalizations and deaths continue to remain steady and low, particularly the deaths. These are all good signs, and we will continue to monitor these metrics. But as we all know, even if a trend is stabilizing it only takes a few people to create an outbreak and have the disease spread rapidly. These plateauing trends are not reasons to let our guard down. Please know even though our recent numbers of deaths are low, we’re still learning everyday about new research on the long term health impacts of Covid-19.”

Mayor Neely spoke a few words and said Gov. Whitmer’s actions deserved praise. “As a mayor of a Black community, I do understand the disparities and we have to overcome as a community, and also as a state.” Neely was proud that Gov. Whitmer, Lt. Gov. Gilchrist, and the state for making bold moves and showing what leadership is all about talked about the level of equality and said, “Equality is only a word unless it’s met with unity and good will and this administration is showing both. This is a wonderful day in Michigan.”

To watch the full press conference, click on the link below.