Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer on Saturday touted her record for “delivering for older Michiganders,” ahead of her State of the State address.
Seemingly, the governor ignored a recent report that demonstrated thousands of additional deaths in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities that were not reported by her administration’s Department of Health and Human Services.
“We have to do more to help older Michiganders access affordable healthcare, retire with dignity, and have attainable, affordable housing,” said Governor Gretchen Whitmer. “I am committed to driving down the cost of prescription drugs, easing the tax burden on seniors, and expanding access to nursing homes and alternatives. We will build on our reputation as an ‘age-friendly’ state and continue putting seniors first.”
In the release, the governor even spoke about long-term care facilities, while continuing to dismiss the independent analysis. She highlighted that she “supported distribution of nearly 1.6 million tests to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in long-term care facilities.”
On the other hand, Republicans have blasted her decision to allow positive coronavirus patients to be admitted into nursing homes.
Furthermore, lawmakers questioned her administration’s efforts to discredit the report on the new deaths:
“The real tragedy is that, against logic, reason and scientific opinion, Gov. Whitmer and health department bureaucrats made the decision to put people with known cases of the coronavirus into long-term care facilities. They did this knowing that the elderly are the most vulnerable to the virus. These decisions, for which no one has been held accountable, resulted in the untimely deaths of thousands of Michiganders,” said State Sen. Lana Theis (R-Brighton).
“But what is perhaps worse is the insidious deflection the administration has undertaken to make everyone squabble about what should and shouldn’t have been reported instead of the governor’s disastrous executive orders that threatened seniors’ lives from the onset of the pandemic.”
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Cooper Moran is a reporter for The Star News Network. Follow Cooper on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Gretchen Whitmer” by Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Background Photo “Michigan State Capitol” by jasongillman.
