Major Michigan business groups spent the weekend advising Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on how to carry out an orderly stay-at-home order to combat the spread of coronavirus after some initially resisted the drastic action neighboring states have taken, Crain's has learned.

The discussion came as Whitmer has faced four days of questions about whether she would follow orders by the governors of New York, New Jersey, California, Pennsylvania, Illinois and now Ohio and ban nonessential work and commerce to reduce human-to-human contact that helps spread the virus.

The business groups actively talking with the governor's office include the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, the Detroit Regional Chamber, Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce, the Small Business Association of Michigan and the Michigan Manufacturers Association, sources confirmed to Crain's.

"We've been working in cooperation with other business groups to try and make recommendations and suggestions, but I haven't seen a final draft or the order itself," Michigan Chamber CEO Rich Studley said.

"I have to imagine at this point with (Ohio Gov. Mike) DeWine having issued an order (Sunday) that that may have had some impact on the governor's thinking on this," Studley said.

On Sunday, the governor made her strongest public plea for Michigan residents to stay put.

"Stay at home if you're not absolutely needed to be outside of your home," Whitmer said on ABC's "This Week." "And if you do go outside, keep that 6-foot distance from others. We all have to play our part to mitigate the spread and to save our health care system."

The governor has scheduled a late Monday morning news conference at the State Emergency Operations Center near Lansing.

Studley and Detroit Regional Chamber CEO Sandy Baruah struck decidedly different tone in interviews late Sunday night, one day after both came out against a "blanket" shutdown order.

On Saturday, Studley specifically cited concerns that an "untimely or overly broad order would create unnecessary and long-term damage to Michigan's economic health." On Sunday, he said the state's chamber of commerce was providing guidance to the governor's office on how some businesses and industries need a period of time to idle manufacturing plants.

"What we've been trying to do is provide them with a lot of fact-based information and suggestions about the difference between essential and non-essential, interruptible and non-interruptible (businesses)," Studley said. "... And to be fair, the administration has been open and willing to listen to listen to input from the business community."

On Sunday, Studley and Baruah sounded almost resigned to the idea that with Michigan now at more than 1,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and nine deaths, the state is headed toward further shutdown of non-essential work and travel.

"Our stance has been that public safety needs to come first," Baruah told Crain's. "And we're going to support whatever she's going to do. But I think there are some things we want her to consider."

Business groups have been "talking to the governor and her team over the last several days about how to handle this," Baruah said. He declined to say what issues the Detroit chamber had asked the governor to consider in a shelter-in-place order.

Some of the communication between business groups and the governor's office has focused on how to temporarily shut down large swaths of the economy and keep workers in essential sectors on the job, Studley said.

In the other states where governors have ordered workers to stay home, there have been broad exceptions for what's deemed essential work.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's order includes exceptions for manufacturing workers in the chemicals industry, paper products, pharmaceuticals, building material stores, auto repair, child care, laundromats, banks and accounting firms, Crain's New York Business reported.

Whitmer's office did not deny there have been discussions over the weekend with business groups about how to proceed.

"We've received input on a variety of topics from key stakeholders," Whitmer spokesman Zack Pohl said in a statement late Sunday. "The governor is basing her decisions on facts and science in consultation with medical experts. Her No. 1 priority is mitigating the spread of the coronavirus and protecting public health."