Michigan’s auditor general will investigate COVID-19 deaths in the state’s nursing homes.
Doug Ringler, the auditor general of Michigan, responded to a request by Michigan House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Steven Johnson to perform a review of how many individuals died in nursing homes and long-term care facilities due to COVID-19.
“We will be working with various departments’ databases to address your concerns, which will impact the timing of our work,” Ringler wrote, adding the audit is expected to be completed sometime between late September and mid-October, according to the Detroit News.
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Johnson asked that the Office of Auditor General undertake a “comprehensive study of reported and unreported deaths in long-term care facilities,” according to a request made in June.
“I am confident that the Auditor General will provide us with a more accurate picture of the deadly results of Gov. Whitmer’s decision to place COVID positive patients in long-term care facilities,” he said.
The auditor general’s decision to open an investigation was also applauded by right-leaning political entities.
“The Auditor General’s investigation will finally uncover the full extent of Governor Whitmer’s deadly nursing home policy and give the people of our state the answers they deserve,” said Eric Ventimiglia, executive director of Michigan Rising Action, a conservative group. “Governor Whitmer’s refusal to relent on this disastrous policy led to the deaths of thousands of Michiganders, and this investigation will ensure that she and her administration are held accountable for their recklessness.”
Whitmer, like fellow Democratic Govs. Andrew Cuomo of New York, Phil Murphy of New Jersey, and Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania, faced criticism for her handling of nursing homes in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. In March, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Charlie LeDuff filed a lawsuit against Whitmer for allegedly not releasing accurate data about nursing home deaths.
The state’s most recently available data indicate 5,663 long-term care residents and 77 staffers have died due to the disease, a figure state authorities insist is accurate.
“The number that is being reported is accurate,” Michigan Health Director Elizabeth Hertel told the House Oversight Committee on June 3, later adding: “I don’t think that the nursing homes have any reason or incentive to try to hide the deaths that have occurred in their residents.”
Representatives for Johnson and the auditor general did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner‘s requests for comment.
Johnson, a Republican, has become a thorn in Whitmer’s side.
In May, the state lawmaker called for an inquiry into the financial arrangements behind Whitmer’s visit to her father if her administration was not sufficiently responsive to a letter Johnson sent to the governor in late May. “We will be issuing a letter to Governor Whitmer with specific questions related to her junket to Florida. Based off the response we receive, the Oversight Committee will consider doing hearings on this scandal,” Johnson wrote in an email to the Washington Examiner on May 18. “The people of Michigan deserve answers on what the Governor is trying to hide and why.”
The Michigan GOP filed a complaint in June with the state’s Bureau of Elections over Whitmer’s private plane use.
Whitmer also faced controversy after it was reported that multiple aides traveled out of state last month despite April 5 guidelines warning would-be travelers that “travel increases your chance of spreading and getting COVID-19.” In addition, the governor attracted scrutiny when she was photographed at the Landshark Bar & Grill in East Lansing on May 22 alongside several others, who were not wearing masks, with their tables pushed close together, an arrangement that violated the May 15 order from the state’s Department of Health and Human Services mandating all parties be separated by 6 feet, which was in effect at the time.
Whitmer apologized, saying she “made a mistake,” and the bar was not cited.
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Michigan has recorded more than 1 million cases of COVID-19, and 21,031 statewide deaths were attributed to the disease, according to the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 tracker.
