Michigan’s Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has extended the state’s stay-at-home order until May 15 despite protests outside her home – but will ease restrictions so some businesses can reopen and residents can go outside.

Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer on Friday extended the stay-at-home order, which is among the toughest in the nation, that was put in place on March 23 and was due to expire next week.

Whitmer’s new order allows garden stores, nurseries, and lawn-care, pest-control and landscaping operations to resume business. Retailers that do not sell necessary supplies may reopen for curbside pickup and delivery.

The order also allows the public to participate in outdoor activities such as golfing and allows the use of motorboats.

The new order also allows people who own two homes in Michigan to travel between them, which was previously banned but drew complaints from residents of southern Michigan’s urban areas who had second homes in rural and resort areas of the state.

The order requires residents to wear face coverings in enclosed public spaces and says employers must provide at least cloth face coverings to employees. However, no one will be subject to criminal penalty for going without a mask.

The new measures immediately replaces the order that was scheduled to expire next week.

‘Staying home remains our best weapon to defeat this enemy and to stop the spread,’ Whitmer said. ‘With new COVID-19 cases leveling off, however, we are lifting some of the restrictions put in place in the previous order.’

She emphasized the state economy would reopen in phases.

Michigan has the third-most reported deaths related to COVID-19 in the United States behind New York and New Jersey. The death toll in the state is currently more than 2,900 and there are nearly 34,000 infections.

The fatality rate in Michigan for COVID-19 is the highest in the country at 8.4 percent. Data that measures the rate of coronavirus spread from secondary infections has also indicated that a COVID positive person in the state will go on to infect one more person.

The new order by Whitmer answers criticism by some Michigan residents and Republican lawmakers that she had been too restrictive in her lockdown of the state to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The governor, who had been expected to extend the stay-at-home order, had already said she was hoping to relax some restrictions to start reopening sectors of the economy.

Republicans have been ramping up their criticism of Gov Whitmer in recent weeks and they’ve scheduled a session in the Michigan legislature on Friday.

They plan to create an oversight committee that would review Whitmer’s coronavirus orders and could strip her of some of her powers as governor.

Whitmer’s spokesman earlier promised a veto against the Republicans’ planned move, saying her political opponents were ‘playing dangerous partisan games’ while the governor is focused on saving lives and controlling the spread of the virus.

Her critics have accused her of overstepping her authority with the lockdown measures she has put in place in the state.

Whitmer, like other governors across the country, has said she can’t significantly ease restrictions until they expand testing and keep those infected out of the workplace.

As news spread that Whitmer was likely to extend the lockdown period until May 15, armed protesters gathered outside of her home on Thursday for a demonstration dubbed ‘operation Queen’s castle’.

Pictures from the scene showed people carrying American and state flags, with some holding ‘Trump 2020’ placards. One protester held up a sign which read ‘No more whitless dim Whit’.

As seen in other anti-lockdown protests around the country, some protesters were armed with guns.

The protest outside Whitmer’s home on Thursday were significantly smaller than the demonstrations held over the past week outside of the State Capitol in Lansing.

Large crowds of protesters had gathered at the urging of Trump, who encouraged his followers to ‘liberate’ Michigan, as well as other states including Minnesota and Virginia.

It comes after Governor Whitmer was on Tuesday forced to backtrack after she awarded a state contract to a Democratic consulting firm to track the spread of the coronavirus.

Her decision to award the contract to Great Lakes Community Engagement, a firm run by Mike Kolehouse, a Democratic political consultant who made unsavory comments about President Trump in recent weeks, drew immediate backlash.

The consultancy firm had planned to use software that is also used by a Democratic data firm that is working to help get the governor reelected.

The contract was worth $200,000 over an eight-week period, but Whitmer’s administration has now admitted that it circumvented the process by which state contracts are normally awarded.

Republican’s then weighed in and accused the governor of surreptitiously obtaining data that might be useful for her political campaign under the guise of a healthcare project.

She cancelled the contract and rescinded the funding abruptly after the backlash.