Holyoke Soldiers’ Home superintendent says he warned state about coronavirus concerns earlier
William Bennett, an attorney for Superintendent Bennett Walsh, released more than a dozen documents Tuesday.
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The suspended head of the state-run Massachusetts soldier’s home where dozens of elderly veterans have died from the coronavirus maintains state officials were aware of the unfolding disaster sooner than they say.
William Bennett, an attorney for Holyoke Soldiers’ Home Superintendent Bennett Walsh, released more than a dozen documents Tuesday he said shows the Department of Veterans’ Services and Executive Office of Health and Human Services were aware of the outbreak as early as Mar. 21 and that Walsh even requested help from the National Guard.
Baker’s administration has maintained it wasn’t notified until Mar. 28, after Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse reached out.
Bennett also suggested Tuesday that Walsh was placed on paid administrative leave on Mar. 30 because he’d talked to Morse and other local officials about the crisis in the facility even though the Baker administration had instructed him not to.
Baker’s office declined to comment on Walsh’s remarks. Baker said earlier Tuesday his administration’s investigation into the outbreak, considered one of the nation’s deadliest in a nursing facility, should be completed soon.
Meanwhile, health officials reported two more virus-related fatalities at the home Tuesday, bringing the total number of COVID-19-related deaths to 76.
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