WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, at the House Subcommittee Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigation hearing on how governors are battling the COVID-1 pandemic, U.S. Representative David B. McKinley P.E. (R-W.Va.) questioned Michigan Governor Whitmer on the state’s response to the Coronavirus.
“Governor Whitmer you have been openly critical in the news and media of the Trump Administration’s response to the pandemic. According to the Detroit Free Press you waited until March 26th to ask for a disaster declaration from the President. While you were mulling over how to address this pandemic in your state the Trump Administration already declared a nation emergency on March 13
th. So, by the time you asked for that declaration on March 26, 12 other states had already requested, and had been approved for one…and almost 60 Michigan residents had died of COVID-19,”
said Rep. McKinley. “Governor Whitmer do you regret not acting sooner? Remember 12 other states had already made disaster declarations. Do you think Michigan should have been put at the front of the line ahead of these other states?”
McKinley also cited Michigan's high number of nursing home deaths and asked Governor Whitmer why Michigan has not instituted mandatory testing of all nursing home residents and employees, as other states have done.
