External report points finger in deaths in Missouri veterans homes

(MissouriNet) — The investigation into COVID deaths at Missouri veterans homes has found a failure on the part of the Missouri Veterans Commission (MVC) headquarters to recognize the outbreak, and a failure to respond to the outbreak. Armstrong Teasdale’s report says MVC heaquarters “was lulled into a false sense of security and failed to capitalize on its early successes” in the spring. MVC Chairman Tim Noonan has read the report and says they should have anticipated an inevitability that the virus would get in, and if it did get in, how fast it could spread.

Noonan Says that this was a complex problem that overwhelmed very well-intended people. Armstrong Teasdale is recommending that all Missouri veterans homes undergo a “COVID-19 reset,” meaning fundamental education regarding COVID and how to prevent its spread. They also recommend that MVC consider retaining an occupational health nurse on headquarters staff, through the end of the pandemic.