SE Grand Rapids News

Because Michigan has lost approximately 2,000 nursing home residents to COVID-19, Republican lawmakers continue to be critical of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s policy regarding the admission into nursing homes of nonresident patients who have tested positive.

State Rep. Thomas Albert (R-Lowell) recently came out with a statement calling for the end of Whitmer’s policy, as he gave his support to a proposed plan that would end the nursing home policy, according to the Michigan House Republicans website.

“Nearly 2,000 COVID-19-related deaths in Michigan, or about a third overall, have been residents of nursing homes,” Albert said, according to Michigan House Republicans. “With all we know now, it is insanity that Gov. Whitmer continues to force nursing homes to accept COVID-positive patients. This policy has very likely caused people to die and is most definitely putting our parents and grandparents at great risk.”

The website states that Whitmer’s decision was made without input from the state Legislature, and Whitmer has stuck to the policy, despite criticism and calls to halt the practice.

The effort Albert supports would require the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) to work with the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs to complete an evaluation of current policies for nursing homes in relation to the coronavirus by Saturday, Aug. 15. It would further require MDHHS to both develop and implement a new policy defining a regional health facility in each of the state’s eight regions for the care of those diagnosed with the coronavirus.

Albert also expressed support for Senate Bill 956, which would add the requirement that any long-term care facility must have a dedicated building designed to house patients who have tested positive for COVID-19 to be able to accept  those patients.