Tri-City Sun

In the latest strike of opposition to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's handling of the COVID-19 crisis as it relates to the state's most vulnerable populations living in nursing homes, state Rep. Rodney Wakeman (R-Saginaw Township) recently helped to introduce a bill opposing those policies.

The legislation comes even as Whitmer has recently declared her intent to resist any effort by the U.S. House of Representatives to look into how the response to COVID-19 in Michigan's nursing homes has been handled, according to The Detroit News.

In a Facebook post regarding the 71-to-32 vote approving House Resolution 276, Wakeman said it was past time for the state to change course.

"Gov. Whitmer has continued with a plan that places COVID-19 patients into long-term care facilities -- putting individuals who have tested positive under the same roof as healthy residents," he wrote on Facebook. "Other states that had implemented the same strategy quickly realized the mistake and have since reversed course, but Michigan has not."

With approximately one-third of coronavirus deaths throughout the state centered in nursing homes, according to the post, Wakeman said that it is "unconscionable" to be forcing some nursing homes to accept nonresident coronavirus patients, even as the family members of residents are prohibited from entering the facilities.

"This policy contradicts all reasonable and sensible safety measures," he wrote. "My heart breaks for those who have a family member or spouse who has become a victim of COVID-19 due to the governor’s policies."

According to a press release from Michigan House Republicans regarding HR 276, Whitmer's orders have designated nursing homes that are to receive patients from other nursing homes that lack the facilities to create a dedicated section for housing residents who have tested positive for the coronavirus.

Those regional hubs began being required to accept the nonresident patients after Whitmer's March 20 order designated the policy.