Twelve more veterans have died from COVID at the state veterans home in northwest Missouri’s Cameron.
The Missouri Veterans Commission says 12 more veterans have died at the Cameron home in the past ten days, bringing the total number of COVID deaths there to 22, since September 1.
MVC spokesman Jamie Melchert tells Missourinet that a total of 87 veterans living in state veterans’ homes have died from COVID since September 1. Cape Girardeau has the highest number of deaths, with 29. Cameron is second with 22. There have been 19 deaths at the St. James facility, nine at Mount Vernon, seven in Warrensburg, and one in Mexico.
Melchert says all of MVC’s veterans’ homes are following best practices for fighting COVID, as prescribed by the CDC and the state Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS). He says that includes daily testing, using PCR and antigen testing. It also includes proper use of personal protective equipment (PPE), cleaning and disinfecting, and enhanced training in those areas.
Melchert says infection control inspections and additional infection control training procedures are in place at all facilities. He also says Armstrong Teasdale’s external review is continuing, noting they’re conducting interviews at all seven homes and at the commission’s Jefferson City headquarters.
MVC says it’s also utilizing staffing from the Missouri Disaster Medical Assistance Team, which is deployed to provide Missourians the medical care they need immediately.
U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee on Capitol Hill, has emphasized to Missourinet that it’s important to get to the bottom of this. He has said that if changes need to be made, they should be made as quickly as possible.
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