Soldiers' Home Veteran, Staff Test Positive For The Coronavirus

BOSTON, MA — Visits have been suspended for two weeks at Holyoke Soldiers’ Home after a resident who was thought to have recovered from COVID-19 tested positive on Monday, a spokesperson for the Mass. Executive Office of Health and Human Services said. When he began showing symptoms, he was taken to a local hospital.

The resident then tested negative on Wednesday, the spokesperson said.

Six asymptomatic staff members also tested positive and were immediately sent home, the EOHHS spokesperson said, and all staff and residents are being tested for the virus.

“The Home has been implementing protocols for clinically recovered individuals per the CDC, and will continue to take full precautions for any suspected positive resident,” the spokesperson said in an email. “This week, the Home is requiring a second round of full house testing for all residents and staff.”

Staff have isolated roommates and units, and increased cleaning and PPE usage, the spokesperson said.

The Soldiers’ Home faced scrutiny in June after an investigation ordered by Gov. Charlie Baker found that leaders implemented “utterly baffling” infection control procedures for the novel coronavirus. When the report came out, 76 residents had died from the disease, and 84 additional residents and 80 staff members had tested positive.

In March, leaders made the decision to combine two dementia wards, mixing patients who had tested positive and those who had not, according to the report. Baker announced that he would fire the superintendent, Bennet Walsh — Walsh has challenged that the governor does not have the power to terminate his employment.