New Jersey Veterans Home Sees More Than 70 Dead During Coronavirus Outbreak

New Jersey Veterans Home at Paramus, a state-run nursing home for elderly former members of the US military, has seen 72 deaths due to COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

A total of 120 of the remaining 211 residents of the veterans home have either tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, or are waiting for their test results to come back. Around 20% of the home’s employees have tested positive for the virus with one death.

Mitchel Haber, whose father died at 91 years old at the home 12 miles northwest of New York City, told the New York Times, “The whole place is sick now.”

He suggested that officials burn down the entire home and to build a park on its site. “It’s like a mass shooting,” Haber said.

The facility stopped taking in new residents in March so that it can have enough space to isolate possible coronavirus patients according to Kryn Westhoven, a New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs spokesperson.

In March, the facility had 336 beds, 285 of which were occupied. New Jersey did not require staff at its elderly care facilities to wear masks until the end of that month.

Westhoven also told Fox News that the veterans at the home were especially vulnerable to the novel coronavirus because of their advanced age and accompanying complications, including respiratory conditions.

Employees began to get sick and relatives were not allowed to visit by late March, leading to a deluge of calls at the nursing stations.

The home is located in Bergen county where the pandemic has hit particularly hard. State data showed that the county has seen 16,929 confirmed positive test results and 1,355 deaths from COVID-19 as of Sunday (May 10).

New Jersey has tested more than 400,000 residents and has confirmed 138,532 cases of COVID-19 in the state as of Saturday (May 9). More than 9,000 deaths have been recorded.

Nursing homes and other adult care facilities have been hit hard by the coronavirus. In Massachusetts, officials are investigating another veteran’s facility after 70 patients died of the coronavirus, with the superintendent placed on administrative leave.