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Michigan health department disputes Auditor General findings regarding uncounted COVID-19 deaths at long term care facilities

Courtesy fda.gov

Michigan’s health department says a report finding the state undercounted COVID-19 deaths at long-term care facilities used bad analysis.

An early copy of the state Auditor General’s report obtained by the Michigan Public Radio Network says the state missed counting more than 2 thousand COVID deaths in those facilities.

But the state Department of Health and Human Services Director Elizabeth Hertel says the review uses a definition of “long-term care facilities” that is too broad and doesn’t match federal guidelines.

"We also used the standard definitions created by the CDC that every other state did for what deaths were to be counted," Hertel said. "This report goes outside of that definition. So, its very... I would say it’s misleading at best. I would say completely false in general."

Hertel says that artificially inflates the number of deaths connected to long-term care centers.