April 10, 2020

Members of the New Jersey National Guard were deployed to two New Jersey nursing homes this week after both facilities reported deaths of residents due to coronavirus.

About 40 members were dispatched to the New Jersey Veterans Home in Paramus, which houses 285 residents and has reported 10 deaths from the virus. At least 23 residents have tested positive and are isolated and another 47 are awaiting test results, New Jersey Department of Military and Veteran’s Affairs spokesman Kryn Westhoven told CNN.

New Jersey has reported 47,437 positive cases and more than 1,500 deaths.

“Seventeen staff members in the nursing homes have also tested positive and 20 more are waiting for their results,” Westhoven said. The state’s National Guard members will help level staffing numbers, he added, following the positive diagnoses of workers in the facility. Every staff member is now getting temperature checks prior to their shift to ensure if they are showing signs of the coronavirus, they self-quarantine immediately, Westhoven said.

“Our primary concern is our residents at our home, our veterans, they are a national treasure,” he said. “Most of them have served our country and state and they deserve the best treatment possible.”

The facility is one of three operated by the state’s department of military affairs. The New Jersey National Guard is deploying 35 more members to a second one, in Menlo Park, to help with staffing.

“Two residents at the second facility have died and 15 have tested positive,” Westhoven said. There are 279 residents total and no others are awaiting test results.

Another cluster in San Francisco Bay area

Across the country, two San Francisco Bay area nursing homes also reported they were experiencing an outbreak.

Six residents at the Gateway Care and Rehabilitation died, according to the Alameda County Public Health Department. Thirty others in the facility have tested positive along with 24 staff members. The home is in the city of Hayward.

In East Bay Post-Acute Healthcare Center in Castro Valley, 17 staff members and 9 residents have tested positive for the coronavirus. No deaths have been reported at the facility.

California reported 16,957 cases of the virus Wednesday and 442 deaths.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/09/us/coronavirus-new-jersey-california-nursing-homes/index.html