PA Vets Home Death Toll 34

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

The death toll in the Pennsylvania veterans nursing homes from confirmed or probable coronavirus has jumped to 34 cases, according to a spokeswoman for the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.
Joan Nissley, the spokeswoman, said 23 confirmed cases of coronavirus caused the death of 23 veterans and was the probable cause of 11 more. She declined to specify in which of the six veterans nursing homes the deaths occurred.
However, previous reports from county coroners has shown well over half of the deaths occurred at the Southeastern Veterans Center, a 323-bed facility in Spring City Chester County.
A contingent of National Guard members have been providing assistance to staff at the nursing home.
Nissley said that 45 staff at the six facilities also tested positive for the Covid-19 virus and 18 of them have already returned to work.
She said a total of 96 residents of the facilities tested positive for the virus including the 34 who died.
In addition to the Chester County facility, state veterans nursing homes are located in Erie, Pittsburgh, Scranton and Philadelphia.
Pennsylvania is not the only state to report multiple Covid-19 deaths in state run veterans nursing homes.
More than 70 deaths have been reported in a Massachusetts facility and multiple deaths have been reported at facilities in New York, New Jersey, Washington and Alabama. Several agencies are now investigating the conditions at the soldiers home in Holyoke, Mass. where the 70 deaths were reported.
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