TRENTON, N.J. — — Widespread dysfunction at New Jersey's two state-run veterans homes left them unprepared to keep residents safe during the COVID-19 pandemic, violating their constitutional rights to reasonable care while in state custody, a scathing report by the U.S Justice Department found Thursday.
“Even by the standards of the pandemic’s difficult early days, the facilities were unprepared to keep their residents safe,” the report said. The report, noting the state's attempts to remedy the situation, criticized it for what it called the lack of independent oversight. Early in 2020, he was alert, talked to his family every day and led an art class. He was known to be polite and sociable. On April 4, 2020, soon after the first cases were identified in the state, his roommate was hospitalized for potentially having COVID-19. The roommate died two days later after testing positive.
“Resident C’s family later asked the facility if Resident C’s roommate had COVID; they were told ‘no,’” the report said. As of July 2020, the state published data showing 81 deaths at Paramus and 65 at Menlo Park. But the actual number of residents who died of COVID-19 was much higher, the report said. The reported deaths were based on the cause of death listed on a death certificate, but because COVID-19 tests were not readily available early in the pandemic, residents often died without a positive tests. Universal testing didn't start until April 20, 2020.
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