© 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

Top Michigan official: Nursing home death data is accurate

LANSING, MI (AP)--   Michigan’s top health official says long-term care facilities are accurately reporting the number of coronavirus-related deaths, amid questions over whether the tally is low. 

Elizabeth Hertel, director of the state Department of Health and Human Services, told lawmakers Thursday that nursing homes have no “reason or incentive to try to hide” deaths.

The Republican-led House Oversight Committee held the hearing after Detroit-area journalist Charlie LeDuff and the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation questioned if there is an undercount. Hertel called “untrue” the contention that deaths found by analyzing death certificates may not be reflected in data submitted by long-term care facilities.

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.