Michigan Governor regrets restricting gardening sections during harsh lockdowns

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer Sunday admitted there were certain decisions she made during COVID-19 that she regrets because they didn’t “make a lot of sense”.

Soon after the pandemic hit, Whitmer became known for ordering some of the harshest lockdowns in the country. She banned gatherings of all sizes and even forbade residents who owned more than one home to travel between their residences. Out-of-state visitors who owned vacation homes, however, were permitted to visit.

As studies have conclusively shown, not only did lockdowns have “little to no public health effects, they have imposed enormous economic and social costs where they have been adopted.” The mental and emotional fallout from lockdowns — particularly on children — is still unfolding.

Whitmer perhaps knew this at the time, which may be why she was twice caught violating her own restrictions. In one instance, she was seen partying in a bar during lockdown; in another, she attended a restaurant outing where she sat in close proximity to 12 other people despite her own social distancing orders and prohibition against more than six people sitting together in restaurants.

The governor’s husband was also unafraid that violating his wife’s lockdowns may bring public health risks. In May 2020, Dr. Marc Mallory called a local marina owner while Michiganians were forbidden from going to the beach and asked if his boat could be put in the water for Memorial Day. When the marina owner refused, citing the lockdown, Mallory asked if being married to the governor would make a difference. 

But none of the above have made the list of Whitmer’s regrets about her lockdown policies in an interview with CNN’s Chris Wallace.

“I’m just curious, if there is one thing in particularly that you could do differently and again knowing then what you know now, what would it be?” Wallace asked.

“Michigan would’ve been manufacturing the world’s masks and swabs and would’ve help keep people safe,” Whitmer said.

“I mean in terms of lockdown,” Wallace pressed. 

Whitmer said she regrets cordoning off gardening supplies sections in hardware stores.

“You know, there were moments where, you know, we had to make some decisions that in retrospect don’t make a lot of sense, right? If you went to the hardware store, you could go to the hardware store but we didn’t want people to be congregating around the garden supplies. People said ‘oh, she’s outlawed seeds.’ It was February in Michigan and nobody was planting anyway. But that being said, some of those policies I look back and think maybe that was a little more than what we needed to do.”

Whitmer was asked once before whether she had any regrets about her lockdown policies. Just as the question was put to her during a November interview on Fox 2 Detroit, Whitmer’s audio “mysteriously malfunctioned” and had to end the interview.