Donald Trump's justice department is requesting nursing home data from Michigan and several other states with Democrat governors due to "Covid-19 orders that may have resulted in deaths of elderly" people.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's policy early in the pandemic was to keep Covid-positive people in nursing homes with healthy ones. More than 2,000 nursing home patients have died since the outbreak began.
New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania are also being asked to supply information.
In a media release, the department says its Civil Rights Division "is evaluating whether to initiate investigations" under a federal law that protects people in certain state-run facilities.
"The Civil Rights Division seeks to determine if the state orders requiring admission of COVID-19 patients to nursing homes is responsible for the deaths of nursing home residents," the release says.
In addition to infection and death totals, DOJ has requested all state policies related to nursing homes and "The number of persons who were admitted to a Public Nursing Home from a hospital or any other facility, hospice, home care, or other location after testing positive for COVID-19 during the period the guidance or orders were in effect."
