Gov. Whitmer’s nursing home policy puts the lives of Michigan’s most vulnerable to COVID-19 in danger and it’s time she heeds the call from impacted families, AARP, the state legislature, and Congress for full transparency.
June 23, 2020
AARP Joins Scalise And State Legislature’s Call on Gov. Whitmer for Transparency on COVID Nursing Home Crisis
At least 1 in 3 coronavirus deaths in Michigan are associated with skilled nursing facilities, but experts and advocates believe the number may be higher if the state included data for hundreds of other long-term care facilities – something it’s not currently reporting.
Michigan’s AARP state director wrote an op-ed in the Lansing State Journal today calling for more transparency from the state:
AARP Michigan strongly supports the move for the state to shed light on what is happening in our 450 long-term care facilities, and to take swift and decisive action to ensure the health and safety of residents and staff.
AARP’s call for transparency follows reports that Governor Gretchen Whitmer won’t cooperate with an inquiry from Congressman Steve Scalise to turn over records and brief committee staffers on the state’s handling of coronavirus in nursing homes.
“We will continue to call on our Democrat colleagues to join us in getting to the bottom of this and look for other ways to obtain the information being withheld,” Scalise said in a statement. “Her stonewalling will not deter us from getting the answers these families deserve.”
WDIV reports that the “coronavirus death toll at neighboring care facilities in Metro Detroit may be worst in the US.” A woman who lost her mother to COVID-19 in a Michigan nursing home told the Detroit television station that “she is furious at Michigan Gov. Gretchen for ordering COVID-19-positive residents back into nursing homes.”
Michigan lawmakers passed resolutions against Gov. Whitmer’s nursing home policy last week and a bill introduced by Sen. Pete Lucido “would prohibit nursing homes without COVID-19 positive patients from caring for patients with the disease” according to Michigan Radio and “also proposes that the state health department build and operate new facilities across the state for the exclusive care of nursing home residents with COVID-19.”
The Detroit News recently reported that the state “declined nursing home leader’s idea to put COVID-19 patients in vacant centers” according to a letter obtained from FOIA.
Gov. Whitmer’s nursing home policy puts the lives of Michigan’s most vulnerable to COVID-19 in danger and it’s time she heeds the call from impacted families, AARP, the state legislature, and Congress for full transparency. – Tori Sachs, executive director of Michigan Rising Action.