Massachusetts to pay $56M in deadly COVID-19 outbreak at veterans' home

May 12 (UPI) -- Massachusetts on Thursday agreed to pay $56 million in a settlement with the families of dozens of veterans who died amid a widespread COVID-19 outbreak at a nursing home in 2020.

Gov. Charlie Baker called the outbreak at the state-run Holyoke Soldiers' Home a "terrible tragedy" in a statement announcing the settlement. The outbreak saw more than 160 veterans contract COVID-19 between March 1 and June 23, 2020, with at least 84 dying from the virus.

"While we know nothing can bring back those who were lost, we hope that this settlement brings a sense of closure to the loved ones of the veterans," Baker said.

Under the settlement, families of the 84 veterans who contracted COVID-19 and died before June 23, 2020, will be paid at least $400,000, with an average payment of $510,000, according to lawyers Michael Aleo and Tom Lesser.

They added that another group of veterans who were infected but survived past June 23, 2020, will be paid at least $10,000, receiving an average award of $20,000.

The agreement is subject to approval by the federal district court for Massachusetts.

Donald K. Stern, a former U.S. attorney for Massachusetts, will administer the claims fund and make awards based on a review of each claimant's circumstances.

Linda McKee, whose father, James Miller, a 96-year-old World War II veteran, died in the outbreak, said she was glad to see Massachusetts "finally accept some responsibility for what happened."

"The memories of how my father was treated at the Soldiers' Home will never be erased from my mind," McKee said in a statement. "It would have been more humane if he had died on Omaha Beach in Normandy than how he died at the Soldiers' Home."

A June 2020 report found that leaders at the facility made "substantial errors" in responding to the outbreak including moving all veterans, including some who tested positive for the coronavirus, from one of two locked dementia units into another locked dementia unit where they were crowded with veterans already living there, some of whom had also been infected.

Baker at the time called the findings of the independent investigation ordered by the state "nothing short of gut-wrenching."