© 2024 WNMU-FM
Upper Great Lakes News, Music, and Arts & Culture
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Official defends handling of virus in Michigan nursing homes

LANSING, MI (AP)--   A top health official is defending Michigan’s handling of nursing home residents infected with the coronavirus. 

Robert Gordon is director of the state Department of Health and Human Services. He told lawmakers Wednesday that Michigan's performance is “strong” compared with other states.

He dismissed Republicans’ call for facilities that house only coronavirus patients. Gordon said just two states, Florida and Massachusetts, tried the approach and abandoned it. He says using new facilities for only coronavirus patients would have “limited utility” in a state as large as Michigan. And, he says, "you still need to staff, provide equipment and license that facility.”

The Associated Press is one of the largest and most trusted sources of independent newsgathering, supplying a steady stream of news to its members, international subscribers and commercial customers. AP is neither privately owned nor government-funded; instead, it's a not-for-profit news cooperative owned by its American newspaper and broadcast members.