Stay at Home

There is much that is outlined in the Governor’s most recent order, Executive Order 2020-21, but the intent of the order is to suppress the spread of COVID-19, ordering individuals to stay in their place of residence beginning March 24, 2020 at 12:01 am, continuing through April 13, 2020 at 11:59 pm unless they are partaking in specific activities (further outlined briefly below).

Unfortunately, while the order exempts specific industries and their employees, deeming them as “critical infrastructure employees,” law firms are not included in this category. Please know that doesn’t mean our work stops for you. We have been working diligently to set up our personnel to serve you as we always have.

Below is a summary of the order’s requirements. As this is a very brief overview, we encourage you to please refer to Michigan.gov for the complete order and reach out to us with questions.

Prohibition on activity
Residents may leave their homes to address medical care and other essential services, conduct outdoor activities, obtain necessary supplies, and work as critical infrastructure workers. Any time they are outside their homes, they must abide by social distancing of six feet or more. Residents may leave home to obtain necessary services or supplies; however, “[i]ndividuals must secure such services or supplies via delivery to the maximum extent possible.” Therefore, residents can still go to grocery stores, pharmacies, banks, gas stations, and other essential needs facilities as outlined in the order. Residents may also leave their homes to care for family members.

Critical infrastructure workers
Critical infrastructure workers “are those workers described by the Director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in his guidance of March 19, 2020 on the COVID-19 response (available here).” This includes some workers in each of the following sectors:

  1. Health care and public health;
  2. Law enforcement, public safety, and first responders;
  3. Food and agriculture;
  4. Energy;
  5. Water and wastewater;
  6. Transportation and logistics;
  7. Public works;
  8. Communications and information technology, including news media;
  9. Other community-based government operations and essential functions;
  10. Critical manufacturing;
  11. Hazardous materials;
  12. Financial services;
  13. Chemical supply chains and safety; and
  14. Defense industrial base.

Smith Haughey remains prepared to serve you and answer any questions you might have. If you need assistance determining how the order might affect your business and/or employees, please contact your Smith Haughey attorney or the managing partner at one of our offices:

executive-order-2020-21-and-what-it-means-for-your-business