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State health agency releases some COVID data after lawsuit

MDHHS Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.png
Posted at 3:50 PM, May 21, 2021
and last updated 2021-05-21 15:50:52-04

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The Michigan health department has settled a lawsuit by releasing information about people in long-term care sites who died of COVID-19.

The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation says the department agreed to provide ages and dates of death.

But it was unable to say whether the infection occurred at a long-term care facility “due to inadequate tracking.”

The group in March filed a lawsuit on behalf of Detroit-area journalist Charlie LeDuff, whose public records request was denied as exempt under state law.

LeDuff says he wasn't seeking the names of the deceased.

Mackinac Center attorney Steve Delie says the information is important in trying to understand the pandemic.

SEE MORE: CORONAVIRUS IN WEST MICHIGAN