Rep. Scalise demanding answers from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and others about COVID and nursing homes.

And good evening, everyone. Hello, this is Dave Bonney. Just wanted to bring you some new information that we've learned within the past hour, some new information. Go ahead, like my fan page if you haven't already. Just want to give you updates on what's going on. We have learned that Representative Steve Scalise, he is the House Minority Whip. He is from Louisiana. He basically is having some concern when it comes to Governor Gretchen Whitmer and her handling of the nursing home situation in Michigan. Now, I know a lot of you have been following the story. And we actually had something on the story earlier today because the state of Michigan releasing new information when it comes to how many deaths in the state of Michigan have been tied to nursing homes. And it turns out, according to the MDHHS, 34%, one-third of Michigan deaths have been linked to nursing homes. There's just about 6,000 deaths in the state of Michigan when it comes to the coronavirus. And about a third of them come from nursing homes in the state of Michigan. Sorry, everyone, just trying to do several things here while I'm live talking to you. So I'm going to show you the letter. Representative Steve Scalise, he is a Republican. And in the past, Governor Whitmer has said that this has been a political game among Republicans and Democrats. And she said her job is just to protect all citizens. And Governor Whitmer has said she has never forced any nursing homes to take any COVID patients or any recovering COVID patients. Governor Whitmer has said in the past that it's being, I don't want to say misquoted, but she is saying that sometimes lawmakers are making it out to be what it's not. I'm going to read some of her statements in a little bit right here. I'm trying to bring up the screen. So just trying to give you both sides. We have reaction from Governor Whitmer when she was talked to when she gave a testimony in the congressional hearing. And that came, that congressional hearing was a few weeks ago. It was maybe a week and a half ago. And I'm going to go ahead, I don't have the video or the audio of it right now, because this is breaking news. And this is just happening. What I am going to do is read you some of her statements. And I'll show you Representative Scalise, what he had to say as well. Trying to get this work done right now. I apologize, everyone. I'm still working from home. For those of you who are still working at home, shout out to all of you. It's definitely not easy. My kids and my wife, they're out for a walk right now. So they're going to be coming back. They are back now, actually. I hear them coming back. You're going to hear the dogs barking. So that's what's happening. They're home now. My wife had a long day at work and the kids, they have had a long day playing as well. So come here, say hi real quick, Olivia. Okay, that's Olivia, everyone. That dog just does not stop barking, I tell you. No, I'm not. But I need you to, can you calm the dog down a little? That's what happens when you work from home. I apologize. Olivia, can you take the doggy away? I don't know what her deal is. She knows who you are. Olivia likes to be in all the shots. She's maybe a future news anchor. This isn't a dancing issue. This is a serious issue. Okay, she doesn't like serious issues. So she is going to be leaving us right now. And we will join her, maybe have Olivia come in when it's time to dance. So maybe we'll do a Facebook Live later tonight to make her happy when it's time to dance. Okay, I'm trying to share this Facebook Live out right now. So if you're watching, go ahead and share this Facebook Live with your friends and your family. That's what I am trying to do right now to get this out to everyone. Hi, Olivia, what's up? I'm busy. I'm doing a Facebook Live. Representative Steve Scalise, he is a representative in Louisiana. He is coming out saying that Governor Gretchen Whitmer needs to answer for the situation involving nursing homes. Now, he is a Republican. Whitmer is obviously a Democrat. And she says, she has said in the past that some of this is politically based or politically slanted in a way. So let me show you right now. I have the letter. I'm going to put it up on the screen. I have the letter from Steve Scalise, Representative Steve Scalise. Goodbye, Olivia. And I'm going to zoom into this letter right here. You can see this is from Representative Scalise. And this is going to Governor Whitmer. He was releasing, he released this letter about an hour and a half ago. Hold on, everyone. Sorry, I had to pick up a dog. Okay, Governor, I'm sorry, Representative Scalise releasing a letter to Governor Gretchen Whitmer. And the letter basically says that it goes into the COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected the elderly, especially those living in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. Let me see right here. There were guidance from the CMS. Kind of look, get to it right here. And Steve Scalise is asking the governor to help us better understand what science or guidance you use to make this decision. We respectfully request the following documents. He wants all state issued guidance, directives and advisories. He wants the total number of COVID-related nursing home deaths, including deaths that occurred at the nursing home and deaths of registered nursing home patients. The total number of COVID-19 related positive nursing home cases, total number of confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients and all information and documentation, all information and communications between the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. And it was signed by, actually it was signed by several representatives. Steve Scalise would be the ranking member, representative Jim Jordan, representative Blaine Lukmeier, representative Jackie Woloski and representative Mark Green signed this document. And as far as I can read, this is a letter. So I don't see it as a, you know, demand something legally that the governor has to do, has to give this information over. But the governor, let me go back to our article. We have an article on our website right now where you can look this up and learn more about this story. At the bottom of the screen, I have a link and you can go to midmichigannow.com and you can click on that link and you can learn more information about what both sides are saying about this. And let me go to the article right here. And okay, here we go. Governor Whitmer was asked during a recent congressional hearing about this issue and I'm going to highlight it on the screen and I'm going to try to make it bigger so you can see it. Let's see, how can I do this? I might just have to look closely. I apologize. During recent congressional testimony, Whitmer was asked about the COVID-19 nursing home issues. She was asked by Representative Wahlberg, why did it take you so long to change the policy of putting COVID patients back in nursing homes? Whitmer said, in retrospect, there are probably a number of decisions we would have made some adjustments on, but she said, quote, we were working with the best counsel of our public health experts and also Michigan's experience with the coronavirus has been, sorry, the coronavirus has been different from other states because of the growth in the cases in Metro Detroit. She went on to say that the death rate may be partly the result of differences in the way COVID-19 deaths are being recorded in various states. She said that in some other states, some deaths in which pneumonia was listed as cause may have been in fact a coronavirus death. So both sides commenting about this issue, Representative Steve Scalise, he wants some answers from Governor Gretchen Whitmer, but Governor Gretchen Whitmer has said that, hold on everyone. Okay, sorry. Governor Gretchen Whitmer has responded numerous times during news conferences, and when she's been asked by people, the governor has said she has never ordered any coronavirus or recovering patients into nursing homes. So the governor said that it is somewhat on the nursing home. She actually said she put in place protocols and procedures to protect the patients at the nursing home. So she has defended herself in this decision. And Michigan is not the only state that this letter was sent to. It was sent to several other states. Let me look here. This letter was sent to New York, New Jersey, California, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, places where coronavirus recovering patients were put in nursing homes. So that is the issue that we are learning right there. And I also want to bring up on the screen before I let you go, because I have to get into our show. It's getting close to news time right now. But I thought it'd be important to go live because a lot of you want this information and you learn about this information a lot. Let me bring it up on the screen. Sorry. Okay, so you see this up on the screen right here. This was just released today. MidMichigan Now anchor Stephanie Parkinson was breaking this down on MidMichigan Now at five o'clock and at six o'clock. And she believes she's going to have more coming up tonight on MidMichigan Now at 10 on Fox 66 and 11 on NBC 25. But according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, there have been 7,163 cases of the coronavirus in nursing homes in the state of Michigan. 1,947 patient deaths. So 1,947 people have died related to COVID-19 at Michigan nursing homes. 3,133 workers at Michigan nursing homes. There have been 3,133 cases at nursing homes in the state of Michigan with employees, with staff. There have been 20 deaths from workers or just various staff members from the coronavirus in the state of Michigan at nursing homes. So that information was just released today. Governor Gretchen Whitmer also today to be fair and release her side of it as well. Let me bring this up. We have another article that Governor Whitmer has made changes when it comes to the testing at nursing homes and the reporting at nursing homes. She released an executive order earlier today. And I'm going to go ahead and try to find this and read it, read it for you, everyone. Let's see here. Okay. She issues a new executive order regarding nursing homes. And let me find this here. Sorry, everyone. A lot going on. I know. Working from home too. I don't have all my technology here that I want. Trying to work on it. Don't you worry, everyone. Okay, let's see. Okay, here we go right on the screen. Let me try to zoom it up, make it bigger, even bigger, everyone. There we go. Let me make this even. Oh, what happened? That's not good. Okay, let's go full screen. Okay, so the new executive order from the governor is calling for initial testing of all residents and staff at nursing homes. Testing of all new or returning residents during intake unless tested within 72 hours. Testing of any resident or staff member with symptoms. Weekly testing of all previously negative residents and staff. So if someone in a nursing home was to test negative one week, they would be tested the following week, I'm sorry, or 14 days later. Weekly testing of all staff in regions of medium or higher risk. Testing of all staff in regions one through five and seven at least once between the date of this order and July 3rd. And nursing homes are required to submit plans for testing by June 22nd and they need to implement those plans by June 29th. And this is according to Governor Gretchen Whitmer's executive order. We have the new executive order at midmichigannow.com. So you can go to midmichigannow.com and you can read the executive order. We have that on the screen right now, but we also have it on her website. Hold on. Sorry, everyone. Just writing back to someone right now. So yeah, you're taking a look at the executive order right there. So once again, just breaking down the new information that is coming out and that's basically giving you both sides of the issue that my job is not to make any decisions. I just want to give you the information as it comes out. And the information that is coming out tonight, Representative Steve Scalise is calling on governors, including Governor Gretchen Whitmer to answer for what's going on with the nursing homes as well. So that coming out tonight. And I want to let you know that I did email the governor's office tonight, her spokesperson. Let me check my email right now to see if she has responded. She has not responded as of yet. The governor's spokesperson has not responded. But in the article that we have on our website, we do have what the governor had to say during her congressional testimony. So we have both sides of this story there for you. And obviously, Steve Scalise is a Republican. Governor Gretchen Whitmer is a Democrat. And at times, people on both sides are pointing fingers. So we'll just let you decide what's going on. That's the information that we have as of now. So I'm going to let you go, everyone. Just wanted to go live real quick. And sorry, just looking at another email right here, seeing if we got any emails. And that's the news as we have it right now. So if you don't like my page on Facebook, go ahead and like it so you can get updates like this. And I will continue to keep my eye on everything and to try to keep you all informed as we learn more. So have a good night, everyone. I'll see you at 10 o'clock over on MidMichigan Now on Fox 66. Have a good night.