Another top official in Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s scandal-prone administration was caught vacationing last week after the governor ordered state residents not to travel amidst an uptick in coronavirus cases.
Elizabeth Hertel, the newly appointed director of Michigan’s embattled Department of Health and Human Services, reportedly traveled to Gulf Shores, Alabama last week, according to MIRS News.
Hertel is one of the only officials in the state with the authority to issue emergency COVID restrictions, according to a recent state Supreme Court ruling.
As with other recent Whitmer administration scandals, those close to the situation leaped into damage-control mode by attempting to downplay the issue.
Hertel was kept up-to-date with Michigan’s growing case numbers and remained available to issue any new public health orders while she was traveling, according to people familiar with the matter, who coyly failed to recognize the real problem with Hertel’s disregard for her boss’s statewide lockdown decrees.
The same week Hertel was in Alabama, Whitmer was urging Michiganders not to leave their homes for spring break travel.
“Students and families traveling across Michigan, to other states or out of the country risk being exposed to and carrying COVID-19 with them,” Whitmer’s office said in a press release. “This, in turn, could fuel outbreaks within their households and the communities where they live or visit.”
Astoundingly, Hertel is the second official close to Whitmer who has been caught defying the governor’s guidance.
The other, chief operating officer Tricia Foster, posted pictures on Facebook of her family vacationing in Siesta Key, Florida earlier this month, according to Breitbart.
NEW: Gov. Whitmer’s top aide Tricia Foster defies governor’s travel warnings, travels to Florida for spring break vacation
Screenshots of Foster’s FB page obtained by @BreitbartNews ? pic.twitter.com/Iw4sLuR1bh
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) April 10, 2021
In the photos Foster posted online, she, her daughters and their friends were seen maskless and not practicing social distancing.
Whitmer’s office defended Foster’s decision to travel, saying she was “fully vaccinated” and claiming criticism of her vacation is a “partisan attack from a garbage white nationalist website.”
Whitmer took a much different tone when asked about the incident this week.
“We all need to show one another a little bit of grace. We’re all eager to get out,” she said.
