It is past time for the state to revise their policies on residents living in nursing homes and long-term care facilities and release the data on the deaths that have occurred from COVID-19 there.
June 11, 2020
Gov. Whitmer Touts Data Showing Decline in COVID Cases While Failing to Produce Data Regarding Michigan’s Most Vulnerable
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer took credit today for Michigan’s decline in COVID-19 cases today while failing to disclose data surrounding residents most at risk in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities and the impacts of her dangerous policy placing residents with the virus in the same facilities as residents who don’t.
The press release and social media posts from Whitmer tout data from the Imperial College COVID-19 Response Team. The principal statistician from the Heritage Foundation states that the coronavirus model used by Imperial College “was so highly flawed it never should have been relied upon for policy decisions to begin with.”
Whitmer’s press release goes on to quote MDHHS Chief Deputy for Health and Chief Medical Executive Dr. Joneigh Khaldun: “The data shows that our aggressive actions against this virus are working and that implementing them has saved lives.”
That leaves many wondering exactly what data the state is referring to. Bridge Michigan states “Michigan gives no coronavirus data on thousands of seniors and disabled.”
Whitmer’s administration continues to falsely claim they are using ‘data’ to inform decisions when the state still doesn’t have data on the most vulnerable populations in long-term care facilities. It is past time for the state to revise their policies on residents living in nursing homes and long-term care facilities and release the data on the deaths that have occurred from COVID-19 there. – Tori Sachs, executive director of Michigan Rising Action.