Novi Times

Plans to protect Michigan’s most vulnerable citizens from the COVID-19 pandemic went astray as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer vetoed a bill, drawing a strong reaction from state legislators.

Rep. Kathy Crawford (R-Novi) was among those who voiced displeasure with the governor’s decision to leave a policy in place that allows senior citizens infected with COVID-19 to be placed into a nursing home or long-term living facility. The bill in question would have created eight regional facilities to care for those senior citizens and provide protection for those at risk.

Crawford, who is the chair of the House Families, Children and Seniors Committee, offered a statement of rebuke on the governor’s action.

Rep. Kathy Crawford | Michigan House Republicans

“The governor has shown time and time again that she cares more about her own optics than she does about the safety of Michigan residents,” Crawford said, according to Michigan House Republicans.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that there would be far fewer nursing home deaths had it not been for her huge error in judgement in forcing healthy nursing home residents to live in facilities with COVID-positive patients," Crawford told Michigan House Republicans. "Our plan would have rectified her actions and helped prevent the spread of the coronavirus to Michigan’s most vulnerable residents. The governor owes us an explanation for her actions today.”

Whitmer explained the bill would move senior citizens to facilities without a requirement for consent and said it failed to explain how the facilities would be paid for, The Detroit News reported.

The veto still leaves residents at risk, with approximately 33% of COVID-19 deaths linked to nursing home residents or employees, according to The Detroit News. Compounding the frustration for Republicans was that the governor failed to follow the tested procedures in other states, according to the bill’s author, Peter Lucido (R-Shelby Township).

Other states with coronavirus nursing home guidelines practiced by the Whitmer administration have shifted to a policy similar to the one proposed by Michigan Republicans.