An outbreak of the coronavirus at a veterans’ home in New Jersey has killed at least 10 residents over the past two weeks, prompting the deployment of National Guard members to the facility.
The Army National Guard is being sent to the New Jersey Veterans Home in Paramus, according to the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.
Twenty-three residents at the Paramus facility have tested positive for coronaviurus and 47 are awaiting test results, Kryn Westhoven, a spokesman for the state Department of Military and Veteran Affairs, told NBC News Wednesday.
A team of 40 medics from the Army National Guard will be deployed to the facility this week for assistance with nursing duties, according to Westhoven.
“Families of our residents at the homes should know we’re doing everything we possibly can to keep the residents safe,” Westhoven said.
The Paramus facility is in Bergen County, the area of the state with the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths. New Jersey has the second-highest number of coronavirus cases among any state, 51,027 cases as of Wednesday,with 1,700 deaths.
The Paramus veterans home — one of three such facilities run by the state — can accommodate up to 336 residents. It stopped taking on new residents on March 23 to keep rooms free for isolation of residents who tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, Westhoven said.
The current population at the Paramus facility is 285 residents.
About 35 medics from the National Guard will also be sent this week to a New Jersey veterans home in Menlo Park, where at least four residents have died, Westhoven said.
