When Gov. Gretchen Whitmer ordered nonessential workers to stay home March 23, setting off a cataclysmic ripple of joblessness across Michigan, there were seven recorded deaths in the state from the novel coronavirus.

Two weeks later, the death count has surpassed 500.

And health officials warn we haven't even seen the worst of it as scientific modeling shows the coronavirus outbreak in Michigan may not peak until late April at the earliest — and mid-May at the latest.

"We know that we are in for a tough three, four, five, six weeks here in front of us," Whitmer said Thursday during a virtual town hall meeting that was broadcast on TV stations across both peninsulas. "We are far from out of the emergency that we find ourselves in."

Each day breaks the previous day's record of the number of positive COVID-19 cases and the number of people dying in this pandemic.

Last week, someone age 20 died from COVID-19 in Michigan, underscoring the pleading of public health experts that young people are not immune to this virus.

Also last week, a person who was 107 years old died in Michigan, according to state data, meaning they were old enough to have survived the Spanish Flu of 1918-1920 as a child.

The latest and fast-changing numbers about the impact of COVID-19 are staggering:

The 252 deaths in all of Wayne County are more than Norway and Denmark have combined from COVID-19 infections.

Oakland County's death count of 142 is more deaths than Mexico and Japan have combined.

African Americans are contracting and dying from COVID-19 at disproportionately higher levels than other racial groups. Statewide, African Americans make up 14 percent of the population and 35 percent of the deaths.

In Washtenaw County, African Americans make up 12 percent of the population, but accounted for 48 percent of the COVID-19 deaths as of Friday.

The mounting toll fuels mounting uncertainty in the ability of idled small businesses to hold onto enough cash to be able restart their restaurant, small machine shop or landscaping crews.

Whitmer's "stay home, stay safe" order is almost certainly going to be extended beyond April 13, likely until April 30.

That's the timeframe the Republican leaders of the Michigan Legislature want to give Whitmer in response to her request for a 70-day extension of extraordinary emergency powers to limit the human contact that can spread the virus.

Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake, said granting Whitmer 70 more days of emergency powers will signal that the state will remain in lockdown into the third week in June, even though that wouldn't necessarily be the case.

"No matter how you couch it, people are going to interpret it as, 'Oh, sh$%, I'm going to be in my house for the next 70 days,'" Shirkey said.

Despite the danger, leaders are not quite ready to let go of the sacred act of voting in person.

And even though city councils are meeting on Zoom — like every trapped-at-home white-collar worker — the Legislature is unprepared to follow suit. Legislative leaders don't think video conferencing voting would hold up in court (just another reason why we need a constitutional convention to update Michigan's 1962-era governing document).

The House and Senate plan to hold an in-person session Tuesday to consider an extension of Whitmer's powers — a dubious choice after state Rep. Isaac Robinson of Detroit died a week ago from a suspected case of COVID-19.

Both chambers are planning elaborate ways to limit the number of legislators on their respective floors at one time for taking attendance or voting. Senators will get their temperatures checked before entering the upper chamber.

Shirkey promises it will be "safer than going to Walmart," — not a ringing endorsement.

Some legislators over age 65 at a higher risk of complications from COVID-19 or those from the coronavirus hotspots of Wayne and Oakland counties may be asked to not attend.

"We do want to limit exposure and that's one way to do it," House Minority Leader Christine Greig, D-Farmington Hills, said.

Only 20 of 38 senators and 55 of 109 representatives are needed to form a quorum.

Greig has resisted going into session amid a worsening public health threat.

"I'm the only member of (leadership) from Southeast Michigan and, honestly, I don't think they get it," Greig said.

Shirkey, who represents a largely rural district in Jackson, Hillsdale and Branch counties, said he's growing increasingly concerned about the "mental anguish" building up as people remain mostly relegated to their homes.

It's a brutally tough adjustment in the state that invented motorized freedom.

But it's a necessary sacrifice or the virus could linger around for months, as modeling from the University of Michigan shows.

"We are learning a lifetime of new learnings every 24 hours," Shirkey conceded.

Let's pray Michigan's political leaders don't have to learn a grave lesson from going to the Capitol on Tuesday.