Governor Whitmer continues to come under fire for her controversial nursing home hub policy and the lack of data and transparency surrounding residents most at risk from COVID-19.
June 10, 2020
Problems Persist with Whitmer’s Nursing Home Policies and Lack of Transparency
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer continues to come under fire for her controversial nursing home hub policy and the lack of data and transparency surrounding residents most at risk from COVID-19.
Bridge Michigan reports today that “there remains no easy way for the public to check the status of COVID-19 at facilities across the state with a population at high risk from the virus.”
“Six weeks after Michigan first charted COVID-19 cases in nursing homes, state health officials say they intend to finally release this week the number of confirmed coronavirus deaths in those homes.”
“The Whitmer administration has yet to disclose COVID-19 cases and deaths at other long-term care facilities across the state. Combined, these facilities — adult foster care, homes for the aged and unlicensed assisted-living centers — have the capacity to house far more seniors and disabled residents than the state’s 458 nursing homes.”
While data and transparency problems continue to raise concerns, Michigan lawmakers have demanded Whitmer stop placing COVID-19 patients in nursing homes with healthy residents – a controversial policy that continues through the state’s regional hub policy.
State Rep. Leslie Love, D-Detroit, has been a vocal opponent of regional hubs.
WWMT: “Love said she thinks it was a mistake to put COVID-19 positive seniors in the same facility as others.”
Last week, Politico reported on the hub locations selected by the state:
“In Michigan, for example, eight of 20 nursing homes selected by the state government to build wings for coronavirus-positive patients are currently rated as “below average” or “much below average,” the two lowest designations, on the Health and Human Services department’s five-star nursing home rating scale. One was sued in 2017 by a state watchdog group after a man died in its care.”
Michigan Rising Action’s executive director has discussed the failed nursing home policy in a Detroit News op-ed and continues to call on Whitmer to change the policy to protect those most vulnerable to COVID-19 and release relevant data.
Whitmer likes to say she is using ‘facts,’ ‘science’ and ‘data’ to inform her decisions. How can we take that statement seriously when the state still doesn’t have data or a plan to keep the most vulnerable populations in Michigan safe? The vulnerable residents living in nursing homes and long term care facilities cannot afford to wait any longer for the Whitmer administration to enact new safety measures and a holistic plan to stop the spread of COVID-19 to the population who is most at risk of dying from the virus. – Tori Sachs, executive director of Michigan Rising Action.