Thread by @JewhadiTM

Michigan’s regulators are out of control. Gretchen Whitmer wants to make that permanent. reason.com/2021/04/16/mic… via @reason

State bureaucrats are moving to impose permanent regulations mandating the following, and more, on MI businesses: mask wearing when employees are within 6 feet of someone else, daily health screenings, extensive record keeping, & keeping a "COVID safety coordinator" on-site.

Retail stores, personal care services, and other businesses open to the public would have to become the mask police: They would be required to make all customers wear masks, vaccinated or not.

Many of these rules are based on mandates put in place last spring by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. As such, many are based on outdated scientific knowledge about how COVID-19 spreads.

For instance, employers must "increase facility cleaning and disinfection" and "prohibit workers from using other workers' phones, desks, offices or other work tools and equipment."

These rules were dreamed up when public health experts thought the virus could easily spread via surface contact. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently said there's a one in 10,000 chance of getting infected from touching a contaminated surface.

The rules make no accommodations for vaccinations. The word vaccine doesn't even appear in the rules. This means that even if a movie theater or bowling alley has fully vaccinated its entire staff and is in a community with no cases, masks are mandated at all times.

Other mandates in the proposed rules may be impossible for businesses to comply with. Sports stadiums must, for instance, "establish safe exit procedures for patrons," such as dismissing attendees by section.

Barring a successful lawsuit, if the governor and her department want these permanent rules put in place, they will be in effect indefinitely until the law is changed or until a different governor changes them.

Ultimately, one person can control the lives of all 10 million Michigan residents to an enormous extent not only during a declared state of emergency, but potentially for years going forward.