The governor said the focus should be on making swabs for testing. "This is what we need right now — not additional new things to be upset about, fearful of or mad about."
She said she worries Trump's daily televised briefings only make things worse.
"I think that the nightly briefing has yielded a lot of inconsistent messages to the public — messages that put people in greater danger," she said.
The crisis has devastated her state's economy and killed 2700 people. She said Michigan, along with other states, is struggling to conduct sufficient testing and urged Trump to use all his powers to force manufacturers to produce more test swabs.
She spoke as some Republican governors have begun the process of reopening the economy without waiting for more testing, moves that gives her "great pause."
"I know that we're going to have to be really methodical and data-driven about what sectors of our economy we engage in when it is going to be a slow re-entry. Our biggest concern, of course, is a second wave," said Whitmer, who may relax her stay-at-home order beginning May 1.
"The worst thing would be for us to spike the football and think we are outside of the danger zone, and to re-engage and find another peak of Covid-19."
More than a million Michigan residents — about a quarter of the state's workforce — have filed for unemployment since the outbreak began.
Whitmer said the state has the resources to pay jobless benefits "for now" but that Michigan, like every other state, will need more help from the federal government.
Detroit-area automakers, which suspended production roughly a month ago, are pushing to reopen factories. Fiat Chrysler has already announced a May 4 gradual restart date.
"It's too soon to say if that is precisely going to be the date to that things start re-engaging," Whitmer said. "But we are obviously eager to start engaging sectors responsibly when we're able to safely."
Whitmer is a national co-chair on former Vice-President Joe Biden's campaign. Michigan is a critical battleground for the November election, as Democrats try to win back a state that flipped in 2016 to help Trump become president.
- AP
