Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich (D-Flint) and Representative Jeff Irwin (D-Ann Arbor) released the following statements after two more deaths in Flint were linked to the Legionnaires outbreak in 2015.
“We’re just learning that two more Flint residents died from Legionnaires’ — months after the fact. Based on that track record, I’m not confident the Department of Health and Human Services can handle another outbreak, never mind this one,” Sen. Ananich said. “We need real experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the ground here in Flint so we can rest assured that people will be safe. The public deserves to know how the DHHS will keep people from dying this summer.”
“While the parents of Flint worry what their children will be facing for the rest of their lives due to lead-tainted water, two more people have been added to the death toll,” Rep. Irwin said. “Legionnaires’ disease has taken the lives of 12 of our fellow Michiganians, and it’s time we correct the problems that led to this catastrophe. The Flint water crisis, and this outbreak of Legionnaires, is as a result of the sloppiness and indifference of emergency managers and the governor’s administration.”