Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced during a press conference Monday that the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) has extended the COVID-19 pause by 12 additional days.

The ‘three-weeks pause’ order, which began Nov. 15, was extended to understand the full impact of Thanksgiving travel on COVID-19 cases. The epidemic order targets indoor gathering activities, such as closing bars, indoor dining and high schools.

Places with on-site dining options are connected to an increase in COVID-19 cases, according to Whitmer. Adults who tested positive for COVID-19 were twice as likely to report dining at a restaurant than those who tested negative.

Currently, Michigan’s case rate is at 522 COVID-19 cases per million, MDHHS Chief Medical Executive Director Dr. Joneigh Khaldun said. Cases are trending down, but are still seven times the rate of COVID-19 in September.

Across Michigan, over 280 sites have enrolled in the COVID-19 vaccination program. Khaldun said no steps have been skipped in the vaccine process and it will only be provided if it is approved by medical experts.

Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump’s lawyer, has been hospitalized with COVID-19 on Sunday, mere days after being in a confined conference room in Lansing for several hours without a mask, the Ingham County Health Department, or ICHD, said in a release.

The ICHD has consulted with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, or MDHHS, on the matter, and state health officials, including Chief Medical Executive Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, concur that given the extremely rapid course of the illness, it is likely that Giuliani was contagious during his testimony.

ICHD Health Officer Linda Vail said this is one of many high-risk scenarios, as many attendees were also unmasked and within 6 feet of the infected individual for 15 or more minutes.