• Governor Whitmer addresses state on Tuesday afternoon.

LANSING - Governor Gretchen Whitmer updated Michiganders on how Michigan is doing with COVID-19 vaccine distributions and her plans for in-person learning to resume across the state.

As of today, Michigan has vaccinated 1,292,572 residents with the COVID-19 vaccines. On February 9, Whitmer visited the vaccination site at the Michigan State University Pavilion.

“We want to move swiftly to get 50 thousand shots in arms per day every day,” said Whitmer. “We’ve hit that number a few times. We’re capable of this, and even more.”

The governor also said agreements are secured from nearly all Michigan health insurers to continue waiving out-of-pocket costs for Michiganders needing COVID-19 testing, vaccinations and treatments.

“The very last thing Michiganders should have to worry about is whether or not their health insurance will cover the cost of their care,” said Whitmer.

Whitmer also said Michigan received $1.7 billion from the federal government through the elementary and secondary school emergency relief fund to address her goal of having options for in-person learning by March 1, for students.

“These one-time flexible dollars will be distributed through a formula that recognizes additional costs associated with supporting students in poverty and students with special education needs,” said Whitmer.

Even though Michigan now has 45 confirmed cases of the B-117 variant of the coronavirus located in 10 different counties across the state, Chief Medical Executive and Chief Deputy Director of MDHHS, Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, said a safe return to in-person learning is still possible.

“Medical experts and epidemiologist from across the country have closely followed the data and recognized that schools can establish a low risk of virus transmission,” said Khaldun.

Khaldun said enforcing masking up and adopting infection prevention protocols is crucial to a safe in-person learning experience.