Kalamazoo Times

With the economic crisis created by restrictions related to COVID-19 hammering on the doors of the nation’s manufacturers, some business leaders are saying it’s time to get back to work.

Andy Storm, president and CEO of Eckhart -- a Michigan-based industry-advanced manufacturing solutions provider -- recently appeared on WJR’s "The Paul W. Smith Show" to discuss why he's not worried about the coronavirus and wants to see manufacturers back in business and operating at full capacity.

“I think one of the unfortunate things, irregardless of where you fall on the political spectrum, you look at the statistics and you look at the data, and I think a lot of the COVID craziness has truly been overblown,” Storm told Smith. 

Andy Storm, CEO of Eckhart | LinkedIn

Storm said that he’s not on the other extreme, claiming that the coronavirus isn’t real or isn’t something to be taken seriously, but that the level of fear society has embraced is more than the situation justifies.

Storm told Smith that Michigan's COVID-19 statistics show 24,849 hospital beds in the state, yet there are only 514 cases -- in a state with a population of approximately 10 million -- who are either suspected or confirmed to be positive for coronavirus and currently in the hospital.

Even personal protective equipment shortages are overblown, he claimed.

“Right now, in Michigan, there’s 1.9 million N95 masks in our state,” Storm said on the radio program. “We’ve got 514 people in a hospital. To me, it’s really unfortunate how the narrative really does scare people.”

Storm said that what is really needed is to get business back up and running.

“We need people to be able to go and work. We need the support, the economic engine, not only of southeast Michigan, but of the United States, and it begins with leadership,” Storm told Smith. “It doesn’t begin with scaring and terrifying people that if they go to work or if they go to a restaurant or if they watch their child play a high school sport they’re gonna die. It's just not true."