Getting Answers: rising COVID-19 cases at Holyoke Soldiers’ Home

HOLYOKE, MA (WGGB/WSHM) - We’re continuing to follow the current COVID-19 outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home. Cases have more than doubled since this past weekend and local legislators are making sure protocols at the home are being followed.

John Paradis, a member of the Veterans Advocacy Coalition, said family members have reached out to him with their concerns. On Sunday, November 27, an email went out to family members of the home that said there were two positive cases among residents. On Wednesday, Western Mass News learned from the state that there were 11 cases among veterans. A day later, on December 1, the state reported 13 cases among residents and 20 staff members had tested positive.

State Senator John Velis is the chairman of the legislature’s Veterans and Federal Affairs Committee and is also the chairman of the working group that oversees the two soldiers’ homes in the state. With those positions, he’s been a part of daily meetings with the Mass. Department of Veterans Services to receive updates on the outbreak.

“My job, the way that I see it, is to ensure my daily conversations with the state that all protocols, whether they be CDC or DPH, whether it be the V.A. or that intent with the legislature is being meant,” Velis said.

Velis told us he is comfortable with the updates he’s been receiving regarding the protocols they are following. Western Mass News also received a statement from the Executive Office of Health and Human Services that read, in part:

“Residents have reported mild symptoms and have been isolated and provided therapeutic treatment. The home is following CDC infection control procedures and is in active and ongoing consultation with the department of public health.”

Velis said the organization is making a better effort to keep families updated and more involved on the outbreak inside the home.

“We’re trying to get them to expand those meetings, not just have them in the middle of the day, so if somebody has a loved one at the home, the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home, that is working or otherwise just busy, they’ve indicated they are going to do that and accommodate that,” Velis explained.

Velis also wants to remind families that things have drastically changed since the deadly outbreak of March 2020...

“Just by way of the information we know, we have a little bit of a better understanding of COVID, the role that vaccines play, the way that isolation plays, the way that infectious disease control works. Those are things we didn’t know in March of 2020…Many people lost their lives to learn many of these lessons, but there are a lot of lessons learned from March of 2020,” Velis noted.

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