Michigan: 'Strongest public health order in the Midwest’ now requires masks for 2-year-olds

The Michigan state government this week directed state residents as young as two years old to begin wearing masks in the hopes that doing so will help bring down the state’s coronavirus numbers.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said in a press release on Friday that the state will expand its COVID-19 response — what the state DHHS calls "the strongest public health order in the Midwest" — to apply its masking requirement "to children ages 2 to 4" in order to "further protect the state's residents."

"Expanding the mask rule to children ages 2 to 4 requires a good faith effort to ensure that these children wear masks while in gatherings at childcare facilities or camps," the announcement says, adding that the order "follows recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance."

The current Michigan order lasts through May 24.