Tyler Janssen Case
Ottawa County, Michigan – Tyler Janssen Case –
Tyler Janssen, one of the top wrestlers in the State of Michigan in his weight class, was denied the opportunity to compete last Saturday in the Michigan High School Athletic Association’s (MHSAA) district wrestling tournament. Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s administration refused to follow CDC rules regarding quarantines when a person has been exposed to someone who is allegedly positive for the Covid-19 virus. Tyler is a senior at Coopersville High School and this was his last opportunity to compete for a state championship.
Tyler filed an action in Ottawa Circuit Court last Friday and asked Judge Karen J. Miedema for an injunction to allow him to participate in the district tournament. Judge Miedema refused to grant the injunction and ignored the CDC standards for quarantine. The Ottawa County Department of Public Health (OCDPH) asked the Michigan Public Health Department through MDHHS to waive its ten-day quarantine requirement in light of the CDC rule for a seven-day quarantine if the person has two negative tests for the virus. MDHHS refused to follow the CDC regulations. Neither the MHSAA nor Coopersville High School took any action to support Tyler. Since March 12, 2021, Tyler had zero symptoms of Covid-19 and was tested daily, a total of eight times. The most recent Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommendations for quarantine state: “a quarantine can end after day 7 if a diagnostic specimen tests negative and if no symptoms were reported during daily monitoring.”
The Whitmer administration violated Tyler’s rights by exceeding its statutory authority and not complying with the statutory requirements for quarantining citizens, and by not following the science and data of CDC guidelines. This unlawful action denied Tyler the opportunity to participate in the final wrestling meet of his high school career.
Attorney David A. Kallman stated: “We have discovered that the Ottawa County Health Department asked the Whitmer Administration for approval to apply the CDC’s 7-day quarantine standard to Tyler Janssen’s case which would have allowed him to participate in last Saturday’s district wrestling tournament. For no explicable reason, the Whitmer Administration repudiated the science and data utilized by President Biden’s CDC to deny Tyler his opportunity to compete for a state championship. Apparently, undisclosed “science and data” will be used to justify restrictions on civil rights, but actual science and data will be rejected if it supports relaxing those restrictions to help a student.”
Case Name: Tyler Janssen v. Ottawa County Department of Public Health et. al.
OTTAWA COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT
Docket No. 21-6444-CZ
Documentation: