Gov. Whitmer and Attorney General Nessel are recklessly dismissing the Michigan COVID nursing home crisis as partisan while Democrats speak out against the policy.
June 30, 2020
Democrats Criticize COVID Nursing Home Policy as Whitmer and Nessel Attempt to Dismiss Criticism as Partisan
Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Attorney General Dana Nessel both attempted to dismiss inquiries into Michigan’s controversial COVID-19 nursing home policy as “partisan” as Democrat State Rep. Angela Witwer joins Rep. Leslie Love in speaking out against the policy. Thirteen State House Democrats also voted for a resolution opposing Whitmer’s decision to put coronavirus patients in nursing homes on June 18.
The Detroit News reports “Nessel has dismissed as partisan a request by congressional Republicans to investigate the Whitmer administration’s policies on coronavirus in nursing homes.” Whitmer said “she didn’t have time ‘to play partisan games’ in regards to the request from Congress and called the GOP lawmakers’ targeted request ‘unfortunate.'”
Michigan Radio reports that Michigan was one of five states whose orders for nursing homes to accept COVID-19-positive patients from hospitals were controversial from the outset, and was immediately condemned by the Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine, which represents medical professionals working in long-term care.
Detroit Democrat State Rep. Leslie Love has been critical of Whitmer’s policy for several months calling it the “most idiotic thing we could come up with.” Recently, Democrat State Rep. Angela Witwer explained during a Zoom meeting with constituents that she does not support Whitmer’s nursing home policy and states that the issue has dissent on both sides of the aisle in the Michigan state legislature. Watch:
Republicans and Democrats have been publicly calling for changes to Whitmer’s nursing home policies for two months after WXYZ reported “a Sterling Heights senior care center saw a spike in COVID-19 cases among residents after accepting two dozen positive patients recently discharged from area hospitals” on May 5.
Gov. Whitmer and Attorney General Nessel are recklessly dismissing the Michigan COVID nursing home crisis as partisan while Democrats speak out against the policy and no action is being taken by Whitmer’s administration to protect our seniors from deadly COVID-19 outbreaks. Nursing home residents deserve a plan to keep them safe today, not two months from now, and dismissing this tragic and dangerous policy as partisan is appalling. – Tori Sachs, executive director of Michigan Rising Action
The Traverse City Record-Eagle Editorial Board has called Whitmer’s nursing home policy “inadequate” saying “our state public health experts paid a premium to place people infected with a wildly communicable disease in close proximity to the people most likely to be killed if they become infected.”