It appears that “substantial errors” in decisions made by leaders at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home led to the outbreak of COVID-19 leaving 76 residents dead from the disease so far. This result comes from an independent investigation ordered by Gov. Charlie Baker.
According to the report, the facility was hit hard at the beginning to do to “utterly baffling” infection control procedures made by Superintendent Bennett Walsh. The Massachusetts Department of Veterans’ Services also failed to provide proper oversight of the facility.
One of the the biggest mistakes happened on March 27, when facility leaders combined two dementia units, mixing patients who had tested positive for coronavirus with ones who had not.
Baker’s investigation is one of several investigations into the errors made at the facility in Holyoke. State Attorney General Maura Healey, U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling, and the state Office of the Inspector General are also investigating.
The report ordered by Baker was conducted independently by the Boston law firm McDermott, Will and Emery.
You can read the full report here.
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