What Michigan's new COVID restrictions means for small businesses
Fox News correspondent Garrett Tenney describes the potentially devastating impact on 'Special Report'
Kelly Stafford, the wife of Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, went on a rant against Michigan’s latest coronavirus restrictions in an Instagram video on Thursday.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Sunday introduced a so-called “Three-Week Pause” in hopes to slow the spread of the coronavirus as the state reportedly broke its single-day case record over the last month, according to FOX2 Detroit.
The pause started Wednesday, which affects in-person learning at schools, indoor-dining at restaurants, all organized sports except for professional, theaters, movie theaters, stadiums, arenas, bowling centers, ice rinks, water parks, bingo halls, casinos, arcades and group fitness classes.
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Kelly Stafford said in her rant that she mostly felt for the small business owners. But retail businesses, salons, childcare and gyms were not affected by Whitmer’s order.
“So I’m going to be very blunt: I’m so over it. I’m over living in a dictatorship that we call Michigan. I understand there’s a pandemic, and I understand it’s very scary. I’m scared of it too. If you are at risk, do not leave your house until there’s a vaccine,” she said.
“But shutting down all these small businesses -- things that people have worked their life for -- shutting them down again is not the answer, because they will not make it. So once we are able to leave our house, once this dictatorship decides to let us have some freedom, there will be nothing left.
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“I’m just over it. I see all these people and it brings me, like, to tears. I — and believe me, I know there’s people out there that are stating, ‘That’s really ignorant of you. How could you say that?’ Listen, I know not everybody’s going to agree with me. Not everybody’s going to agree with my every move I make. That’s life, OK? We state our opinions, we move on.
“This is my opinion. I feel for these small businesses. It’s not that I don’t feel for people that have COVID, or the hospitals. I do. But this is my opinion. I do not feel like — I do not like living in a place where they tell me what I can and cannot do. I live once. Again, this is my opinion. You have yours, everyone has their own, and we chalk it up to that.”
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The Stafford family has had a hard time navigating the coronavirus pandemic. Matthew Stafford was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list twice this year. He had one false-positive test before the season started.
According to The Detroit News, she later apologized for her rant.
"All right, y'all, here's what I do best, coming back to apologize after I read some of your things and I get grounded a little bit. I'm really sorry. I was in the heat of the moment. I have a friend losing their business, and it's just getting to me a little bit, so I apologize for calling it a dictatorship," she said.
Kelly Stafford also posted several photos showing which businesses Michigan residents could support during COVID restrictions.
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