Reports: Gov. Whitmer’s Nursing Home Task Force Recommends Policy Similar To One Whitmer Vetoed Reports: Gov. Whitmer's Nursing Home Task Force Recommends Policy Similar To One Whitmer Vetoed - Michigan Rising Action

Reports: Gov. Whitmer’s Nursing Home Task Force Recommends Policy Similar To One Whitmer Vetoed

Reports: Gov. Whitmer’s Nursing Home Task Force Recommends Policy Similar To One Whitmer Vetoed

Governor Whitmer vetoed legislation to protect nursing home residents and now her own appointed task force recommends that same policy change over a month later.

September 2, 2020

Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s Nursing Homes COVID-19 Preparedness Task Force finally released recommendations around protecting nursing home residents from COVID-19 as these facilities continue to be the top locations for outbreaks in the state.  

The Associated Press reported on the final recommendation that “the state continue to explore the option of creating dedicated COVID19 facilities” despite Whitmer having vetoed similar legislation in July. 

“The group had some dissent over a recommendation that facilities not deemed as care and recovery centers still be able to admit people with the coronavirus in “exceptional circumstances” if they have experience caring for such residents. The state was urged to prioritize placing infected patients in hospitals and the special care centers.

It should continue exploring the possibility of creating dedicated facilities for such patients despite the Democratic governor’s veto, a month ago, of a Republican-sponsored bill that would have required such places to be available by Tuesday, according to the report.” 

Detroit News Editorial this morning asks “Will Whitmer finally act to protect nursing home patients?” 

“Even while other governors, most notably New York’s Andrew Coumo, have ended the practice of mixing healthy and infected patients, Whitmer has not budged.

Nor has she moved with a sense of urgency to assure nursing homes were adequately prepared to care for COVID-19 patients. The task forces called shortages of personal protection equipment to prevent the spread of the virus “a glaring issue from the very beginning of the public health emergency.”

…But a crisis is not the time for political pettiness. The governor should do today what she could and should have done six months ago.”

MIRS News reports that the bill Whitmer vetoed called for Sept. 1 implementation. 

“A similar idea, requiring the state to set up physically separate facilities to treat COVID-19 patients in each health region, was approved by the Legislature in Sen. Peter Lucido’s (R-Shelby Twp.) SB 0956. Whitmer vetoed the bill, saying it was based on a false premise that the current isolation units at the state’s regional hubs weren’t doing the job.

Another issue was the timing called for in the bill, which called for an implementation date of Sept. 1. Whitmer vetoed the bill on July 31.”

Governor Whitmer vetoed legislation to protect nursing home residents and now her own appointed task force recommends that same policy change over a month later. The Whitmer administration’s own data continues to show that nursing homes and long-term care facilities are the top locations for outbreaks. It’s past time for all long-term care facility data to be made public and for policy changes to be made to protect the residents who live there. – Tori Sachs, executive director of Michigan Rising Action

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