The Republican Governors Association (RGA) on Monday blasted Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, after a new analysis detailed thousands of additional deaths in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities.
The Michigan Auditor General explained in a report that roughly 2,400 more individuals died from the virus than previously reported by state agencies.
“Gretchen Whitmer’s failed leadership helped create an environment where Michigan seniors were forced to fend for themselves while Covid swept through nursing homes,” said RGA Spokesperson Chris Gustafson. “The Auditor General’s report is a sad reminder that Whitmer and her administration will regularly shun transparency in favor of protecting the Governor’s political career. If only Whitmer had the same level of concern for the people she was elected to represent!”
Republicans across the country have slammed Whitmer’s decision to allow positive coronavirus patients to be accepted into nursing homes.
However, Whitmer’s administration has attempted to push back on the report, disagreeing with the methodology used by the auditor general.
“Nevertheless, I continue to have serious concerns about the methodology employed to compare long-term care facilities’ self-reported data to death certificate data from Michigan’s Electronic Death Registry System and COVID-19 case and death data from the Michigan Disease Surveillance System, as well as the conclusions you’ve drawn from this review. I fear your letter will be misinterpreted to question the work and integrity of long-term care facilities, local health departments, coroners, and other frontline workers who we rely on to report data,” Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Elizabeth Hertel said in a response letter.
Multiple internal reviews have cast a shadow of inefficiency and incompetency on state agencies under Governor Whitmer.
For example, Michigan’s Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA) paid out more than $8 billion in fraudulent claims from March 2020 to September 2021, according to a report from Deloitte.
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Cooper Moran is a reporter for The Star News Network. Follow Cooper on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
