Despite growing calls to begin reopening the state's economy from Republicans, protesters and some in the business community, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Monday such a move is unlikely before the current emergency declaration expires on May. 1.

"Another 10 days will go by between now and when we confront the next phase of what we're going through," she said of the May 1 expiration of the stay-at-home order. "We won't just resume life like it was pre-COVID-19. It will be done in phases and it will be slow. But it's going to be data-driven, making sure that it's safe for workers and customers of business that do ramp up."

She urged Michiganders to have patience and think about the people who are dying from coronavirus and started out by paying tribute to Skylar Herbert, the 5-year-old Detroit girl who, on Sunday, became the youngest Michigander to die from coronavirus.

She also said that more information on plans for the state's economy could come later this week. Whitmer is planning on news conferences for both Wednesday and Friday.

"To all the people who have disagreed with the actions I've taken or feel their rights are being infringed, we are taking a limited action for a limited amount of time to save people's lives," she said during her daily briefing updating the conditions of the pandemic. "Who among us wants to be that person who unwittingly brings this virus into their household? Who in this great state actually believes that they care more about jet skiing than saving the lives of the elderly or the vulnerable?"

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She also invoked President Donald Trump's characterization of the fight against coronavirus as a war.

"It is exactly that. So let's act like it. In World War II there weren't people lining up at the Capitol to protest the fact that they had dropped everything they were doing to build planes or tanks," she said. "We were all in this together and it wasn't indefinite. It was until we had beaten the enemy."

Whitmer said she asked Vice President Mike Pence during a phone call with governors Monday morning to have the administration echo the stay-at-home sentiments. The request comes after Trump tweeted "Liberate Michigan" on Friday and said during his news briefings that some governors — without naming names — had gone too far.

"We know the stay-at-home orders are working," she said. “I asked the vice president if they could echo at the federal level our call for people to stay home. … He conveyed that that is something they would do.”

Acknowledging the toll the shutdown of the state's economy is taking on Michigan's budget, Whitmer said she will take a 10% pay cut from her $159,300 annual salary and asked her senior staff to take a 5% pay cut.

Whitmer made her first emergency declaration on March 10 when the first two cases of coronavirus were reported. She closed restaurants and bars, except for carryout and delivery services, on March 16, and issued her first "Stay Home, Stay Safe" order on March 23.

Since those first two cases, 32,000 people have tested positive for the coronavirus and 2,468 people have died.

The Legislature agreed to a second emergency declaration on April 7, but only until May 1 instead of the mid-June deadline that Whitmer wanted. On April 9, she tightened up the stay-at-home order, banning "nonessential" sales of goods, like gardening supplies and paint at big box stores, travel between households and to vacation homes Up North, and prohibiting motorboats from going into the water.

That order set off a rush of anger and protests, and by April 15, thousands of people converged on Lansing to snarl traffic, gather on the steps of the Capitol and wave Tea Party and Trump reelection flags, along with a variety of homemade signs decrying Whitmer's stay-at-home order. Many of the protesters milling around the Capitol grounds last week openly carried guns and few practiced social distancing or wore face masks.

In addition to the protests, Republican members of the Legislature offered their own plans to reopen the state's economy. Senate Republicans offered a five-phase plan last week that would begin opening some businesses immediately and phase others in based on how fast the number of coronavirus cases declined.

Republicans in the House of Representatives offered their own plan Monday, which would split the state in three tiers, with counties with few cases reopening businesses immediately with some restrictions and phasing in a restart of businesses in a second tier of counties that have more cases of coronavirus. Oakland, Wayne and Macomb counties would be the final three counties to open up because they have the most cases in the state.

“Between health concerns, lost employment, and changes to our very way of life, this is an unprecedented and unsettling situation for all of us," said Speaker of the House Lee Chatfield, R-Levering. "We need clear answers from our elected leaders about where we go from here and how our lives can go back to normal as safely as possible."

Whitmer said there are some good ideas in the plans put forth by the Legislature and others in the business, labor and health care industries.

"All of these will be taken into consideration when I make a determination on what the next steps are going to be," she said. "We really want to make sure that the course that we chart will keep people safe and will preclude us from having a second wave."

Contact Kathleen Gray: 313-223-4430, kgray99@freepress.com or on Twitter @michpoligal.