Eight Republican Michigan state senators sent letters to acting Attorney General Monty Wilkinson and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel on Wednesday demanding investigations into Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s handling of COVID-19 in the state’s nursing homes.
Residents of Michigan’s long-term care facilities represent 5,549 of the 16,436 suspected and confirmed COVID-19 deaths in the state since the start of the pandemic, according to the state’s latest available reporting. The GOP lawmakers requested Nessel and Wilkinson investigate whether Whitmer’s April 15 executive order, which prohibited nursing homes in most cases from barring admission to residents who were previously hospitalized with the virus, contributed to the death toll.
Whitmer issued an additional executive order in late May that allowed nursing homes to accept patients from hospitals even if they were still contagious with the virus, according to the Detroit Free Press.
Whitmer’s orders did contain some noteworthy exceptions for nursing homes. For example, her orders required Michigan nursing homes to only accept patients previously hospitalized with COVID-19 only if they were below 80% capacity and had an isolation unit dedicated to the care of such patients.
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