Monroe Review

Michigan Sen. Dale Zorn (R-Ida) recently criticized Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s executive order to house COVID-19 patients with uninfected elderly patients in nursing homes, calling it "deadly," according to SenatorDaleZorn.com.

Zorn says that, even from the beginning days of the pandemic, the coronavirus was known to be much more dangerous to the elderly and that nursing homes are an inappropriate place to house patients who've tested positive for the virus.

According to Zorn, back in April, Whitmer issued an executive order forcing nursing facilities that were at less than 80% capacity to create space to accept patients with COVID-19, regardless of their ability to care for them and isolate the spread of the virus.

Sen. Dale Zorn | #MiSenateGOP

As a result of the executive order, over 2,000 Michigan nursing home residents have died from the virus, representing approximately one-third of all COVID-19 deaths in Michigan. The order seemed especially irrational considering that some hospitals were not full and two field hospitals that were set up to serve thousands of patients went mostly unused.

Zorn called the deaths a "preventable tragedy" and pointed out that he joined his colleagues in bipartisan support of Senate Bill 956, which would have prohibited the placement of COVID-19-positive patients into nursing homes, unless the facility could properly isolate and treat the patients, and also placed a priority on separate, dedicated facilities for positive patients.

Instead, the governor vetoed the measure and refused to change her failed policy. Even the governor’s very own Michigan Nursing Homes COVID-19 Preparedness Task Force has recently released recommendations that echoed that very same legislation she vetoed.

By rejecting the bill and refusing to to admit her mistake, Whitmer continues to jeopardize the lives of seniors residing in nursing facilities, according to Zorn.

Zorn says that the U.S. Department of Justice has now gotten involved and is requesting the scientific data that the administration is using to inform its decisions concerning executive orders that may have led to the deaths of nursing home residents. 

He hopes that the department will be successful in getting the data, answers and accountability that the governor refuses to provide and concludes: “The Michigan people deserve better.”