The Michigan House Oversight Committee met on Thursday to discuss the findings of the Auditor General.

 

Elizabeth Hertel, director of public health, reports 5,675 senior citizen deaths in long-term care facilities.

But Auditor General Douglas Ringler believes the figure is closer to 8,061 deaths.

 

One lawmaker questioned whether it was appropriate to house COVID-19 positive patients in the same facilities as those who did not test positive.

 

Hertel responded by saying that if an outbreak occurs in the future, facilities should be prepared.

 

"What we need to do is ensure that facilities who are caring for patients and particularly medically feral patients have the resources that they need to properly control infectious diseases and that is the purpose of working with facilities, is to make sure that they can safely take residents back and care for them in a facility that is most appropriate for them." Hertel said.  

The release of a 13 page letter explains how the auditor general got to a different number than Health Director Hertel. She says its very simple, he counted more places where seniors lived and died, that the state was not required to count by law.