Senator Karin Housley said that the Minnesota Department of Health has shown “little progress” in its plans for nursing homes.
Update, the MN Department of Health gave in to Housley’s requests and gave out data such as cases by county, deaths by facility, etc.
Senator Housley, Chair of the Family Care and Aging Committee, held a virtual meeting with the commissioner of the MN Department of Health (MDH), and later said that she was worried the plans for the care facilities “have come to exist in a vacuum.” She said on Twitter, that the administration supposedly relies on data, but are unable to give good answers. On Thursday, she announced that if her 17 data questions sent to the MDH are not answered, she will subpoena for the information.
“While I appreciate the commissioner and her staff participating in today’s hearing, there appears to be little progress to report since our last meeting a month ago. Despite sending our questions ahead of time, we walked away with more promises of emailed responses than useful information,” said Housley.
For an administration that relies so much on “the data”, they can’t tell me this basic info? LTC facilities are 3+ months in to full lockdown. Staff & residents are terrified & exhausted. And they NEED to see their loved ones! @GovTimWalz’s plan isn’t working. https://t.co/YLhUAlAhio
— Karin Housley (@KarinHousley) June 3, 2020
Some of the data Housley asked for includes the amount of active cases per county, the amount of personal protective equipment requests fulfilled, and how many of Walz’s 5 point plans have been implemented.
Housley said that while she did not expect a committee meeting to solve the issues, but the current plan is not working, and many people in long term care facilities, including staffers, are exhausted and terrified.
Judah Torgerud
Judah Torgerud is a freelance journalist working with Alpha News to keep the people informed and bring the truth to light. Contact him at whqnu@nycunarjfza.pbz.
