CDC Director On Michigan's COVID-19 Surge: 'Shut Things Down'

MICHIGAN — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky on Monday said Michigan should 'shut things down' with COVID-19 cases spiking, noting that a surge in additional COVID-19 vaccines to the state would not have an immediate effect.

"The answer is not necessarily to give vaccine, in fact, we know that the vaccine will have a delayed response," Walensky said Monday during a briefing in which she was asked about whether the U.S. would surge additional vaccine doses to states with surging COVID-19 numbers, such as Michigan.

"The answer to that is to really close things down, to go back to our basics, to go back to where we were last spring, last summer and to shut things down," Walensky continued. "I think if we tried to vaccinate our way out of what is happening in Michigan we would be disappointed that it took so long for the vaccine to work."

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Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has opposed returning to tighter restrictions amid the pandemic. She has recently called on the administration of President Joe Biden to provide the state with additional vaccines due to a recent spike in new cases.

The governor said recently as a news conference that believes vaccination efforts in Michigan — a state where more than 5.1 million doses of the vaccine have been administered to over 3.1 million residents — is the key to reopening the state and ending the pandemic.

Nearly 40 percent of the state's residents have been vaccinated, Whitmer said last week, and things are "speeding up."

"The vaccine is the most effective way to protect you and your family from this virus, and getting vaccinated is the quickest way for our lives to return to normal," Whitmer said.

But the White House has declined Whitmer's requests for additional doses, as the Biden Administration instead seems set on sending Michigan resources to help it administer doses it already has been allotted.

Biden recently told Whitmer in a recent conference call that the White House is prepared to send an additional 160 FEMA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention personnel to the state to assist in vaccinations, on top of the 230 federal personnel already deployed to the state to support pandemic response operations, according to The Associated Press.

Related: Whitmer Mum On More Restrictions As Michigan COVID-19 Cases Spike

"The Biden administration does have a strategy, and by and large it is working as should be expected, though (with) an undertaking of this magnitude there are shortcomings and different points of view," Whitmer said Friday. "I appreciate President Biden's confident, competent, leadership, and we are grateful to the administration for rapidly increasing vaccination supply nationwide."

In the meantime, Whitmer has said she does not intend to implement stricter measures amid the growing number of new cases, something she has done previously. On Friday, Whitmer took a lighter approach, asking residents to avoid indoor dining, youth sports and in-person high school classes in an attempt to curve the spike in new cases.

While maintaining that nothing is "off the table," the governor said Michiganders "need everyone to step up and to take personal responsibility here."

Read More: Whitmer Asks For 2-Week Pause On Indoor Dining, Youth Sports