Coronavirus Deaths In MI Nursing Homes: State Stands By Numbers

LANSING, MI — Following reports that the state undercounted the number of COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes during the coronavirus pandemic, Michigan's leading health official said the state's numbers are accurate and such claims are erroneous.

Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Elizabeth Hertel said Thursday the state has no reason to hide deaths in long-term facilities, telling lawmakers at a Republican-led House Oversight Committee there was no undercount of such deaths.

“If it is identified in the death certificate as a nursing home death, it would have been reported by the nursing homes as a nursing home death as well," Hertel said, according to The Associated Press. "You can’t add them together. ... You’re double counting."

The hearing was held following a report by Charlie LeDuff of Deadline Detroit, which submitted that the state doesn't adequately determine whether people who died from COVID-19 were nursing home residents because it hasn't reviewed a large number of COVID-19 deaths that have been labeled "vital records."

"Moreover, our investigation found that DHHS did conduct a limited review of those vital records last summer, and found that 44 percent could be traced to nursing homes," LeDuff said in the report. "Don't expect the nursing home data to get better or more accurate. DHHS has abandoned the practice of thoroughly scrubbing records because it is considered too "time-consuming."

Read More: Michigan Undercounted Nursing Home COVID-19 Deaths: Report

According to the report, around 5,600 of Michigan's more than 19,000 COVID-19 deaths were residents of long-term-care facilities. But those deaths were reported through Michigan's honor system for COVID-19 reporting. Meanwhile, nearly 7,000 of the state's COVID-19 deaths are classified as vital records reviews and have not been examined to see if they were nursing home residents.

Hertel said the claims of the report are untrue and that deaths found by looking at death certificates may not be reflected in data submitted by nursing homes, The Associated Press reported.