Eastport is a unique northern Michigan community.
The village of about 200 residences is located between Grand Traverse Bay and Torch Lake.
Steve Hendershott, an area resident and Brandon teacher for more than 37 years has frequently travels to the Eastport family home on shores of Torch Lake—the states second largest inland waterway.
“As much as I would love to go up north and see my father who lives there, I’m just not going to take that risk,” said Hendershott. “I’m not going to take the chance of what I may pick up on the way north and bring to that small community.”
Hendershott’s resolve follows Governor Whitmer executive order 2020-42 signed on April 8, extending her prior “Stay Home, Stay Safe” order through the end of April due to the coronavirus pandemic. As with the prior order, Executive Order 2020-42 limits gatherings and travel and requires all workers who are not necessary to sustain or protect life to stay home.
“As before, people may engage in outdoor activities like walking, hiking, running, cycling, kayaking, canoeing, or any other recreational activity, consistent with remaining at least six feet from people from outside a person’s household and with other restrictions imposed by prior executive orders,” said Whitmer. “The order clarifies, however, that travel for vacations or for any other purpose is prohibited.
Residents were able to travel between two residences in this state, through April 10. After that date, travel between two residences is no longer permitted.”
Atlas Township residents Fred and Beth Forys have owned a home on the Rifle River about 100 miles north of Goodrich near the Village of Alger in rural Arenac County for more than 20 years. The couple were at their second home on April 10 when the governor’s executive order went into effect.
“Honestly I don’t see the harm in going to your cabin up north, but just stay there,” said Forys. “Just don’t socialize once you get there and don’t stop on the way and bring your food along. Our cabin, like many people that travel north, is quite remote so it’s actually hard to find people to talk with sometime. Still, I won’t go up north until they say we can, hopefully next month.”
Forys said he returned home on Sunday (April 12) and I-75 was empty.
“It felt like we were traveling in the Twilight Zone,” he said. “On a Sunday afternoon in the spring, I-75 is very busy.”
Traverse City Mayor Jim Carruthers responded to The Citizen on Tuesday regarding the travel restrictions to second homes in northern Michigan.
“This (order) means not traveling out in public for nonessential goods and being around other people,” said Carruthers. “It also means limiting travel to and from your main residences. If we want to slow the spread of this virus and flatten the curve, we must support our governors orders until we stamp out this virus. Our economy in Traverse City is run on tourism and of course we want people in the bay area and all northern Michigan communities for that matter.”
“Our biggest concern is our hospital system,” said Carruthers. “Unlike downstate we are much, much smaller, if people do come here and get sick we just don’t have the room for them if our hospitals if needed.”
“It’s painful for us here in Traverse City to say it but, ‘stay home,’” he said. “Currently people are running out and going to Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes during the pandemic, so many they are not social distancing. The DNR also had to close boat launches Leelanau County due to the number of people. We need just to chill out for a few weeks until this passes.”
On Tuesday, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, near Empire was closed until further notice due to crowded conditions and guidance from public health officials.
“This action also protects the small towns such as Empire and Leland that are near the park that do not need to be flooded with folks from Oakland County with some most likely caring the virus unknowingly and are asymptomatic and are spreading it to others,” said Jonathon Schechter an on-call firefighter/paramedic for Brandon Fire Department, contingent ER Paramedic for McLaren and long-time lighthouse keeper on South Manitou Island. “The virus will not go away if we keep transmitting it by being in close contact in the cities and in our national parks.”
Hendershott emphasizes how the virus spreads fast and the impact on the remote areas of the state.
“I do not like the governors order but I’m going to follow the rules, it’s the right thing to do,” he said. “All this will get back to normal soon. I understand the views and concerns about travel restrictions. When I was a youth we could not always go up north every weekend, sometimes the weather was bad or we were too busy. As adults we can’t always do what we want.”