The Michigan Senate has approved a bill that would ban the placement of COVID-19 positive patients into nursing homes. The office of state Senator Aric Nesbitt has released the following statement:
The Senate on Wednesday approved legislation that would prohibit the transfer of people who have COVID-19 into the state’s long-term care facilities.
“The governor has repeatedly touted her decision to follow the science, but since day one the science has shown us that the coronavirus was critically dangerous to senior citizens,” said Sen. Aric Nesbitt, R-Lawton. “Warnings from doctors and health professionals were ignored as our governor still decided to place infected patients in facilities with Michigan seniors — and thousands of Michigan families paid the price.”
Senate Bill 956 would ban the admission and retention of people who have COVID-19 in any nursing home facility, unless the facility has a state-approved designated area and program to care for the patient.
The bill would also require the establishment of dedicated COVID-19 treatment facilities in each of the state’s eight health care regions. These facilities would accept COVID-19-positive patients who are not eligible to be admitted into a hospital, nursing home or adult foster care facility.
According to the federal government, several of the state’s nursing homes serving as regional hubs for COVID-19 patients received low-quality ratings as determined by a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services rating system.
“Nursing homes and long-term care facilities were never equipped to deal with this pandemic,” said Nesbitt. “This should have never happened, and our state’s most vulnerable residents should have never had this infectious disease brought directly to their residences — especially by way of a government mandate.”
