State Rep. Jack O’Malley has put his full support behind a newly introduced House Resolution opposing policies which have put the lives of Michigan seniors in danger.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has continued on with a COVID-19 response plan that places COVID-19 patients into long-term care facilities – putting individuals who have tested positive under the same roof as healthy residents. Other states that had implemented the same strategy, such as New York, have since reversed course.

One of the first revelations from the outbreak of COVID-19 across the country was that senior citizens, especially those in nursing homes, were especially vulnerable to the virus. Limited reports indicate roughly 25 percent of Michigan’s COVID-19 deaths have been nursing home residents, and more detailed information has not been made available.

“The virus does a number on vulnerable populations, which includes senior citizens,” O’Malley said. “It’s ridiculous the governor continues to stick to a strategy which puts COVID-19 patients in with such an at-risk group. How would she react if someone was putting her mother, father, grandmother or grandfather in that kind of danger?

“The governor said she is looking at facts and data when making her decisions. They are right in front of her in this situation and she is ignoring them. It’s not putting the safety of people first.”

Nursing homes without dedicated spaces to isolate and tend to COVID-19 patients are required to send them to regional hubs – a separate nursing home which has been approved by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. A May 20 executive order requires the hubs to accept patients.

On March 27, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report article following a deadly COVID-19 outbreak a month earlier at a nursing home in Washington. The article stated that “once (COVID-19) is introduced in a long-term care skilled nursing facility, rapid transmission can occur.” 

HR 276, which O’Malley has co-sponsored, was referred to the House Health Policy Committee for consideration.