Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s (D) health director, Elizabeth Hertel, was the second senior administration official to travel out of state for spring break last week.
Hertel (pictured), who heads the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), traveled with her family to Gulf Shores, Alabama, but according to MIRS News, she “was regularly updated on Michigan’s growing COVID-19 case numbers and was available to issue any new public health orders, if necessary.”
MIRS said Hertel would have legally been able to issue orders while not in the state, apparently even from the beach on the Gulf of Mexico.
MDHHS spokesman Bob Wheaton told the publication “the department does not discuss the Director’s personal schedule.”
On April 2, just days before spring break for many students, Whitmer told the media, “Here’s what I know: The Number 1 state with the most variants is Florida and the Number 2 state is Michigan right now.”
She acknowledged there is “a lot of travel back and forth between the states” at this time of year.
“Yes, I am concerned, and I think it’s a concern no matter what,” she said of travel between states.
Whitmer’s office refused to tell Breitbart News if the governor was proud of her top appointees ignoring her recommendation for Michigan residents not to travel for spring break, nor whether the actions by Hertel and Tricia Foster, Whitmer’s Chief Operating Officer, should be interpreted by Michiganders as a signal that Whitmer’s suggestions should not be taken seriously.
Foster was caught by Breitbart News last Friday after the COO posted photos and comments on her Facebook page about her travels to warmer environs.
One friend commented that she thought she saw the senior Michigan government official on the beach in Siesta Key:
“I swear I saw you walking today,” the person said on a purported Foster Facebook post containing several beach photos from earlier this week.
“Likely,” Foster responded.
When asked where one of her absent family members was — apparently her son — Foster responded, “home with covid [coronavirus].”
She added, “Missing his [senior] trip to the Bahamas so planned girls plan b 24 hours before flight.”
When Breitbart News inquired about Foster’s travel, Whitmer’s office did not respond.
Press Secretary Bobby Leddy later falsely smeared Breitbart News as a “garbage white nationalist website,” but did not dispute the facts in the story.
Kyle Olson is a reporter for Breitbart News. He is also host of “The Kyle Olson Show,” syndicated on Michigan radio stations on Saturdays–download full podcast episodes. Follow him on Parler.