Twenty-three people have died from the coronavirus over about a month in an Alabama nursing home for veterans.
The virus has ravaged the Bill Nichols State Veterans Home in Alexander City since its first worker tested positive on March 30.
All told, 91 residents have tested positive at the state-owned facility, which has a capacity of 150 beds.
The virus spread even under restrictive visitation rules put in place on March 13, barring entry to visitors except for staff, necessary medical personnel and the immediate families of residents who are facing death, according to a spokesman at the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs.
The National Guard deployed a team to decontaminate the home about a month ago and residents who test positive are being isolated while sick workers are ordered to stay home.
Following global trends, the virus has badly hit the elderly population in Alabama, with 80 percent of all deaths involving people over the age of 65, according to Alabama Department of Health data.
Authorities haven’t flagged any wrongdoing at the facility. Two reviews from the Alabama Department of Public Health and the Department of Veterans Affairs showed workers at the Bill Nichols home had followed CDC guidelines for preventative measures, the Veterans Affairs spokesman said.
Veteran’s Affairs homes have faced mounting scrutiny in recent days as cases soar across the US. Nearly 70 veterans have died at a single Massachusetts home, while more have passed at facilities in New York.
A group of four Democratic US Senators last week penned a letter to the head of the Government Accountability Office asking it to probe the VA and states’ roles in ensuring veterans get safe care at the nation’s facilities.
“Given the importance of State Veterans Homes in VA’s overall portfolio…we would like GAO to conduct a more detailed examination of VA’s oversight of State Veterans Homes’ quality of care,” read the letter, signed by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.); Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Ranking Member Jon Tester (D-Mont.), and Senators Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Bob Casey (D-Penn.).
Bob Horton, spokesman for the Alabama Veteran’s Affairs department, said it is “working closely” with state and federal health agencies on “all reported positive cases and preventive measures.”
With Post wires