A judge has rejected a request to stop regular coronavirus testing of Michigan school athletes and other steps ordered by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. Judge Michael Kelly says an injunction isn’t appropriate at this stage because a group called Let Them Play Michigan is unlikely to win the case. Attorney Darrin Fowler with the Michigan Attorney General’s office asked the Court of Claims judge on Tuesday to reject the case.
“The Legislature gave the director the authority to act through orders in the context of an epidemic for the very obvious reason that epidemics are both unique situations that can evolve, just as we have seen COVID-19 evolve,” Fowler said.
Let Them Play Michigan argued that health department orders, especially weekly virus testing, should have gone through a formal rule-making process. But the judge says state law “plainly gives” authority to the health director to issue emergency orders in response to a pandemic.
