Another Democratic Governor is facing scrutiny for nursing home policies during the pandemic. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D) may be subject to legal backlash for refusing to make public the data related to her state’s nursing home death numbers during COVID.
Whitmer implemented a policy similar to disgraced New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D), but is keeping appropriate data hidden from her constituents. Michigan reporter Charlie LeDuff told Fox News that the public “has a right to know,” specific numbers from the governor.
"The public has a right to know. Above all, the public has a need to know. We shut down the entire economy, we interrupted our children's lives, all in the name of protecting the most vulnerable. We now know this was the institutionalized elderly. If we could not protect them, at the very least we deserve an explanation from Madam Governor," LeDuff told the network. "If there's something more to it than that, let's say gross incompetence or gross negligence or gross press conferences designed to cover the facts, then she needs to answer for it.”
.@GovWhitmer is facing a lawsuit over nursing home data and questions surrounding the $155,000 payout to the former health director. #migov pic.twitter.com/ZU9m09EgpQ
— Michigan Rising Action (@MIRisingAction) March 2, 2021
Republicans in Michigan’s state legislature have called for investigations into Whitmer’s broader coronavirus policies, which have included some of the strictest lockdowns nationwide.
If Whitmer does not release data to the public, LeDuff vowed to take the governor “all the way to the Supreme Court.”