There has been controversy over Gov. Whitmer's handling of COVID-19 in relation to nursing homes. | stock photo
There has been controversy over Gov. Whitmer's handling of COVID-19 in relation to nursing homes. | stock photo
Efforts to protect the elderly population in nursing homes and long-term care facilities have moved forward in the Michigan Senate with passage of Senate Bill 956.
The bill would ban the transfer of COVID-19 positive patients from a medical care facility to a nursing home. Instead, one of eight specially created intake facilities would treat those patients who are ineligible for hospitalization.
State Sen. Aric Nesbitt (R-Lawton) spoke on behalf of the bill and the unnecessary loss of Michigan lives.
Sen. Aric Nesbitt
| #MiSenateGOP
“Just days after COVID arrived in Michigan, nursing home experts here in Michigan warned our governor against bringing recovering patients back to their facilities,” Nesbitt said during a Senate hearing on the bill. “She ignored them.”
That result led Nesbitt to stand in support of the bill and the families who have suffered losses of elderly family members. He stated that the bill comes as fingers are being pointed at Republicans.
“Mr. President, our governor, her administration, some of my colleagues across the aisle insist the questions about the tragic policy of sending COVID-positive patients to nursing homes are somehow second-guessing,” Nesbitt said during the hearing. “But it’s their policy that sent them there and we’re getting blamed? It’s ridiculous.”
Nesbitt said it is not possible to account for the number of elderly who lost their lives because they were transferred back to a nursing home or long-term facility while sick, putting other residents at risk.
“The Department of Health and Human services director brushed off the questions by saying, hindsight is 20/20,” Nesbitt said in the hearing. “Our governor says she wishes she had a time machine now that she knows more. Mr. President, nobody needed 20/20 hindsight or a DeLorean to go back in time to understand that COVID-19 preys on the elderly and those with preexisting conditions. And where do a lot of elderly with preexisting conditions live? All they needed to do was read their mail.”
Nesbitt said it is unknown how many lives were lost and urged support of the bill to ensure this never happens again.
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