“They’ve all done the same thing,” said David Hutton, a health planning and policy professor at the University of Michigan.

But timing makes a big impact, he added: “Days can make a difference.”

As with states across the nation, Michigan closed schools, shut bars and restaurants and limited large gatherings in mid-March and ultimately issued a “stay at home” order.

On March 20, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker ordered state residents to “stay at home” the following day. At the time, the state had 585 confirmed cases of COVID-19 while Michigan had 549.

Asked that day if Michigan would follow suit, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said “we’re not there yet.” Over the next two days, Michigan’s business community lobbied the governor against a broad order they said would hurt the economy.

She issued the order March 23 and like those in Ohio and Indiana, it went into effect the next day.

But by then, Michigan had more than three times the number of cases than Ohio, 1,535 to 567, while Indiana had 365. Wisconsin’s stay at home order went into effect the next day, when it had 585 cases.

Now , just over a week later, Michigan has more than 1,600 cases more than Illinois and, as of Monday, more than double the deaths: 259 to 99 for Illinois. All other Great Lakes states have far fewer cases and deaths.

Hutton said that in retrospect “it would have been more prudent” to enact the measure “a few days earlier.”

Tiffany Brown, a spokeswoman for Whitmer, said the governor has moved aggressively, activating the "State Emergency Operations Center to closely monitor the situation and make sure the state was prepared to respond before Michigan even had its first case of COVID-19."

"Since that time she has taken numerous proactive actions and signed executive orders, including 'Stay Home, Stay Safe' to mitigate the spread," Brown said in a statement released Tuesday night.

"In fact, Gov. Whitmer spoke with President Trump earlier today. The focus was on the importance of getting PPE and resources to Michigan for health care workers, slowing the spread of COVID-19, and protecting the people of Michigan.