Michigan Gov. Whitmer says she'll cut pay for herself, staffers during coronavirus crisis

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Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has announced pay cuts for herself and her senior staff during the coronavirus crisis.

She will take 10 percent less pay herself and ask her staffers to take a 5 percent pay cut, she said during a news briefing Monday.

Whitmer’s salary was $159,300 in 2019, according to the Council of State Governments’ Book of the States.

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The move came as she said she wanted to lead by example and defended her statewide stay-at-home order, which has drawn the ire of protesters demanding she reopen the economy.

Protesters gather at the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing, Mich., Wednesday last week. Flag-waving, honking protesters drove past the Michigan Capitol on Wednesday to show their displeasure with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's orders to keep people at home and businesses locked during the new coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

“I know it’s not easy, but the price of losing loved ones is what’s at stake,” she said, noting that many people who contract the virus show no symptoms but can still spread it.

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She invoked President Trump’s comparison of the fight against COVID-19 to war against an invisible enemy and urged Michigan residents to put aside their political differences and focus on overcoming the outbreak.

The state’s stay-at-home order is scheduled to expire on April 30, but Whitmer will decide whether that my change in the next 10 days, Fox 2 Detroit reported.

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Michigan had seen 32,000 confirmed coronavirus cases as of Tuesday afternoon, with at least 2,468 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. Those numbers mean the state had the sixth-most cases in the U.S. -- but the third-most deaths.

Countrywide, there were more than 800,000 cases and over 43,000 deaths as of Tuesday afternoon.