Republican lawmakers are calling for an investigation of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's handling of the coronavirus as it pertains to nursing homes.
In a letter to the Michigan attorney general and US Department of Justice, Sen. Jim Runestad says the state's policies placed patients without COVID in the same facilities as people with the virus -- which is especially dangerous to the elderly and immunocompromised.
He alleges that policy exacerbated the coronavirus death toll, which has claimed the lives of 15,273 Michiganders, 5,515 of whom were residents at long-term care facilities. Another 79 employees at those facilities have died from COVID-19.
The letter says, ""Gov. Whitmer's regional hub policy placed patients with and without COVID-19 in the same facilities and may have exacerbated the death toll in those facilities," Runestad said. "Questions remain regarding the accuracy of data, compliance with CDC guidelines and compliance with our state's Freedom of Information Act. There is a critical need for a full investigation into these matters."
For her part, the governor's office said the call for an investigation is a shameful political attack.
"The senators' allegations are shameful political attacks based in neither fact nor reality," the administration said in an email to Patch Wednesday. "Our top priority from the start has been protecting Michiganders, especially seniors and our most vulnerable."
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The state also referred Patch to an Op-Ed written by Eric Schneidewind, the former national president of AARP, which said, "Attacks on the state's nursing home policies are false. The state never forced a nursing home to accept COVID-19 positive residents. In fact, the Whitmer administration implemented an aggressive nursing home strategy that closely followed CMS and CDC guidance."