1 February 2022: New York Cuomo's COVID Consultants Also Advised Michigan's Whitmer

Michigan’s Big Pandemic Consultant Involved In Opioid And Cuomo Nursing Home Issues

This report identifies another common connection between the COVID policies of New York's Andrew M. Cuomo and Michigan's Gretchen Whitmer. Here's the background:

In February 2021, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel reached a $19.5 million settlement with the public relations and consulting firm McKinsey & Company, which her office had accused of fueling the opioid epidemic. In effect, the state’s top law enforcement officer said McKinsey played a role in the deaths of Michigan residents by helping drug companies promote their drugs, thereby profiting from the opioid epidemic.

But at the same time, other Michigan state officials were working closely with McKinsey to formulate their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic....

In July 2020, the New York State Department of Health released a report that blamed nursing home deaths on nursing home staffers. Critics of the report said it was an attempt to absolve Cuomo of responsibility, according to ProPublica. McKinsey collaborated with the health department in producing the report.

ProPublica said in July 2020, “In the days since its release, the report has come under withering criticism, from some nursing home executives, medical experts, scientists, and elected officials in both New York and Washington. The critics have challenged the report’s conclusions as dubious speculation and accused Cuomo and [New York State Department of Health Commissioner Howard] Zucker of issuing a cynical document meant to insulate themselves from blame.”

Both Cuomo and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer were coming under fire then for undercounting nursing home deaths in their states. Both of their administrations used McKinsey to help craft COVID-19 pandemic responses.

Now, here's where it gets interesting, particularly where Gretchen Whitmer's use of McKinsey's consultants is involved:

The Mackinac Center for Public Policy had recently filed a Freedom of Information Act request in Michigan, asking for records related to McKinsey’s involvement in setting COVID policy. Officials in the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, in their initial response, demanded a payment of $70,000.

The June 16, 2021, FOIA request came after a report from the Michigan Auditor General’s Office noted that $1.8 million of the $3.2 million paid by the state to McKinsey could not be assigned to proper accounting categories due to a lack of documentation. In other words, there was no documentation for why state officials authorized $1.8 million worth of payments.

When the Mackinac Center asked the Michigan health department about the audit report, Lynn Sutfin, spokesperson for the state health department replied in an email, “Sounds like this is something MSP [Michigan State Police] might have information about, not MDHHS.”

Keep in mind the legal settlement McKinsey has agreed to pay the state of Michigan came because the firm advised opioid manufacturers on how to maximize their profits, regardless of whether following that advice would increase the incidence of opioid addictions. That means giving advice with adverse consequences for the public is something McKinsey has a track record of doing.

We already know McKinsey's consultants recommended data reporting practices in New York that contributed to concealing the full extent of COVID deaths in the state's nursing homes during the period Cuomo's deadly 25 March 2020 directive was in effect. Did the firm's consultants provide similar advice in Michigan, the only other state we know significantly undercounted COVID nursing home deaths? What exactly did the Whitmer administration buy with $1.8 million worth of undocumented expenditures on McKinsey consultants?