{"id":585654,"date":"2021-07-07T18:35:43","date_gmt":"2021-07-07T22:35:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=585654"},"modified":"2021-07-07T18:35:45","modified_gmt":"2021-07-07T22:35:45","slug":"michigan-auditor-general-to-investigate-whitmers-role-in-covid-nursing-home-deaths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/michigan-auditor-general-to-investigate-whitmers-role-in-covid-nursing-home-deaths\/","title":{"rendered":"Michigan Auditor General To Investigate Whitmer\u2019s Role in COVID Nursing Home Deaths"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmichigan-auditor-general-to-investigate-whitmers-role-in-covid-nursing-home-deaths%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=585654&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Whitmer_736x514.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Michigan&#8217;s top government oversight official is investigating the number of residents who died from COVID-19 in nursing homes as a result of a controversial public health policy mandated by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D.).<\/p>\n<p>Michigan auditor general Doug Ringler announced the audit last week following legislative hearings that questioned the accuracy of state data on COVID-related deaths in long-term care facilities. Republicans have argued Whitmer&#8217;s administration undercounted deaths after the governor allowed COVID-infected seniors to return to nursing homes for treatment. The state health director has disputed those claims, saying the data are &#8220;self-reported&#8221; by facilities.<\/p>\n<p>Whitmer, who was reportedly considered for Joe Biden&#8217;s running mate during the 2020 campaign, has come under fire before for her COVID-related public health policies. Shortly after lockdowns began in April 2020, the Michigan governor <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/coronavirus\/weed-up-hoes-down-in-whitmers-michigan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">was criticized<\/a> by a bipartisan coalition for her seemingly arbitrary and overly restrictive stay-at-home order. The measure permitted marijuana dispensaries and liquor stores to remain open but closed businesses selling hardware and gardening supplies.<\/p>\n<p>Whitmer also blocked state Republicans in July 2020 from passing a bill that would have prevented COVID-infected seniors from being treated in nursing homes.<\/p>\n<p>State representative Steve Johnson (R.), who requested the audit following the June hearings, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.detroitnews.com\/story\/news\/local\/michigan\/2021\/07\/07\/auditor-general-review-michigans-covid-related-nursing-home-death-data\/7888719002\/\">said<\/a> Wednesday he was &#8220;confident&#8221; the audit would resolve the dispute over the data and show the that governor&#8217;s mandate is responsible for more COVID deaths.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I am confident that the auditor general will provide us with a more accurate picture of the deadly results of Gov. Whitmer&#8217;s decision to place COVID positive patients in long-term care facilities,&#8221; said Johnson, who chairs the House Oversight Committee.<\/p>\n<p>Michigan health director Elizabeth Hertel testified before the committee in June that data on the state&#8217;s COVID deaths were accurate.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The number that is being reported is accurate,&#8221; Hertel said. &#8220;Because the number we have reported on our website is self-reported from the nursing homes.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The state&#8217;s Department of Health and Human Services <a href=\"https:\/\/www.detroitnews.com\/story\/news\/local\/michigan\/2020\/06\/15\/new-michigan-numbers-34-covid-19-deaths-linked-nursing-homes\/3193407001\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a> in June that 34 percent of all COVID deaths in the state have been linked to nursing homes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Michigan&#8217;s top government oversight official is investigating the number of residents who died from COVID-19 in nursing homes as a result of a controversial public health policy mandated by Gov. &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2314214,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Whitmer_736x514.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Michigan Auditor General To Investigate Whitmer\u2019s Role in COVID Nursing Home Deaths","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-585654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Whitmer_736x514.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Michigan Auditor General To Investigate Whitmer\u2019s Role in COVID Nursing Home Deaths","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=585654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585654\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2314214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=585654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=585654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=585654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}