LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Michigan News Source (MNS) has learned the Whitmer Administration hired an out-of-state company to conduct an in-depth after-action report on the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The draft report evaluated all departments and resources utilized to address the pandemic beginning in early 2020.
However, despite being completed, the draft report has not been released to the public or the media so far.
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The company hired for the after-action review, Tidal Basin of Utica, New York, completed a draft report examining Michigan’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the past few weeks and it is circulating inside the administration, according to MNS sources. The report is said to be nearly 300 pages in length and breaks down the State of Michigan’s response on nearly all levels to the pandemic.
Some of the information contained in the report may be at odds with what has been publicly reported on the pandemic to date, according to comments given to MNS. It could also raise further questions about how Governor Gretchen Whitmer handled nursing home patients and the millions of dollars spent on emergency facilities in Novi and Detroit that in the end were not utilized.
MNS has learned the report is so sensitive that there has already been a “stakeholder’s meeting” that included numerous state agencies that were involved with various efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic. MNS was told state departments were each issued portions relevant to their response to the pandemic in the draft report to review and “correct” any possible errors.
This draft report also raises several other questions; why would the Whitmer Administration go to an out-of-state company to conduct such a review when such efforts are usually handled by the Emergency Management and Homeland Security Division (EMHSD) of The Michigan State Police? The EMHSD is the point of contact for the Governor’s office and FEMA on the federal level for all disaster related events. The EMHSD is run by Captain Kevin Sweeney.
Hiring an out of state firm to conduct the review also raises the question of how much taxpayer money was spent on the effort and more importantly, why is the report still not being released?
Michigan News Source has filed a Freedom of Information Act request for a full unredacted copy of the draft report, but so far it has not been made available.
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In addition, Michigan News Source has reached out for comment from Governor Whitmer’s Office, and the Michigan State Police. So far, none have commented.
This is a developing story.
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