LANSING – Gov. Gretchen Whitmer appeared at a Lansing news conference Monday not wearing a mask, despite requiring Michiganders to wear face masks in enclosed public spaces in an executive order issued Friday.

But her office says there is a reason for that.

Whitmer added a face mask requirement when she extended her stay-at-home order to May 15, while relaxing some requirements, such as lifting a ban on lawn care services and removing a ban on travel to a cottage someone owns Up North.

"Any individual able to medically tolerate a face covering must wear a covering over his or her nose and mouth — such as a homemade mask, scarf, bandanna or handkerchief — when in any enclosed public space," the order says.

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Whitmer ordered employers to provide face masks for employees and on the weekend added a separate order requiring grocery store workers to wear masks.

But at Monday's news conference in the Romney Building, across the street from the Capitol, Whitmer did not wear a face mask. Nor did anyone else who spoke at the news conference — Chief Medical Executive Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, DTE Energy Executive Gerry Anderson, or Henry Ford Health System President and CEO Wright Lassiter III.

Tiffany Brown, a spokeswoman for Whitmer, said the governor and the other speakers "were all maintaining social distancing," and were not in a public space such as a grocery store. She also said they left masks off so "viewers and media could hear and see them as they were speaking."

Brown also said that Whitmer and the other speakers wore masks before and after the news conference.

Anderson is co-chair of Whitmer's Michigan Economic Recovery Council, which is setting out protocols and other plans for reopening Michigan's economy.

"Masks will be ubiquitous" at reopened workplaces, Anderson said at the news conference.

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4. Read more on Michigan politics and sign up for our elections newsletter.