Two dead after virus hits veterans home

SAN ANTONIO — COVID-19 has stricken a wing of the Frank M. Tejeda Texas State Veterans Home in Floresville with deadly results, prompting state officials to work aggressively to keep the virus from spreading.

Ten residents of that wing tested positive for COVID-19, including two who have died, according to the Texas Veterans Land Board, which oversees the facility.

Five staff members assigned to work in that same wing also tested positive, the state board said.

State officials haven’t yet determined how the virus got inside the facility. The Texas Health and Human Services Commission, which regulates such homes, is investigating.

The latest resident to succumb after testing positive for COVID-19 was a man in his 90s, who died at a hospital Tuesday morning, Texas General Land Office spokeswoman Karina Erickson said. Another resident, a 75-year-old man, died April 13. Their names were not released.

Legal representatives for all veterans living at the facility were notified by phone of the outbreak. All residents who tested positive were moved to a separate area of the veterans home, while those needing additional care were taken to Audie Murphy VA Hospital in San Antonio.

Five residents remained hospitalized later Tuesday, Erickson said.

This is the second longterm care facility in the local area to experience a COVID-19 outbreak. In recent weeks, the virus swept through Southeast Nursing and Rehabilitation Center on the Southeast Side, where 18 residents died after testing positive.

Senior-care facilities across the U.S. have proved vulnerable to outbreaks during the pandemic because of the age and underlying health conditions of residents, among other factors.

Floresville Mayor Cissy Gonzalez-Dippel said she’s concerned about the COVID-19 cases that have surfaced at the veterans home, which provides long-term skilled nursing care to qualified veterans and their spouses.

“You want to make sure that everything possible is done for the safety and welfare of all the veterans in that facility,” Gonzalez-Dippel said.

“I think as a whole, the community has been a little nervous to find out where did that virus start? And is it walking around Floresville and our county?”

Across Wilson County, 25 people have tested positive for COVID-19. The state veterans home accounts for at least half of those cases.

So far, nine patients have recovered, according to the county’s data. None of them live at the veterans home.

The COVID-19 cases surfacing at the Tejeda facility are distressing, Wilson County Judge Richard Jackson said. He hopes there is no further spread.

“It’s unclear how it got started there. And that’s a concern. … Nobody knows the source,” Jackson said Tuesday.

The novel coronavirus first was discovered at the Tejeda veterans home April 10 when a resident tested positive. Immediate actions were taken to prevent the spread of the virus, Erickson said. All personnel and staff were issued personal protective equipment. Last week, all of the residents were tested for COVID-19, Gonzalez-Dippel said.

All of the active staff have been tested as well. Most of workers’ test results are pending.

The five workers who have tested positive are isolating themselves at home.

The Tejeda facility is home to about 150 veterans, while some 150 staffers work there, Erickson said.

Nonessential visitors had been prohibited from entering all Texas state veterans homes for nearly a month by the time the first resident tested positive at the Tejeda facility.

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission began investigating the Tejeda facility on April 11, the day after the first positive test result was received.

That investigation will focus on the facility’s infection control practices, whether staff and providers of critical services have been properly screened and whether the facility has been following all health and safety rules, such as proper use of personal protection equipment for workers and residents.

The Texas Veterans Land Board operates nine such veterans homes in the state. The other facilities are in Amarillo, Big Spring, Bonham, El Paso, Houston, McAllen, Temple and Tyler.

The Tejeda facility is the only state veterans home to experience an outbreak.

The virus also surfaced at the William R. Courtney Texas State Veterans Home in Temple when an employee there tested positive for COVID-19. That employee hasn’t returned to work since her diagnosis, Erickson said. Every resident at the Temple facility recently was tested for COVID-19, and officials are waiting for those results, she said.

“We are in continuous contact with the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Health and Human Services Commission and remain committed to ensuring the health and safety of our residents and team members,” Erickson said.

The Texas Veterans Land Board contracts with Touchstone Communities to operate its Floresville veterans home, along with those in Houston, McAllen, Big Spring and Amarillo.