July 21, 2020 – Western Mass News – Ryan Trowbridge & Audrey Russo
HOLYOKE, MA (WGGB/WSHM) — A group of lawmakers is now investigating the deadly COVID-19 outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home.
This comes as 101 veterans have died, with 76 of them testing positive.
Countless others contracted the illness and recovered and this group of legislators is tasked with looking into how the virus spread so quickly.
There are already multiple investigations into the Soldiers’ Home underway and the independent investigation ordered by the governor was completed weeks ago.
We spoke with the lawmakers on the Legislative Oversight Committee about how their probe into the home will be different from the others.
“There was not a dry eye there,” said State Sen. John Velis.
Velis has already begun listening sessions with the families of the vets who died in the COVID-19 outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home. He is part of a 17-member legislative committee tasked with investigating the deadly outbreak, considered one of the worst at a long-term care facility in the country.
“There was a D-Day survivor. To survive that and then come back to this and go through what they did…” Velis noted.
Velis is hoping the families’ input will help probe further back before the outbreak in March.
“All the time that they spent up there visiting, their observations, what they saw, what they feel could make it better,” Velis said.
(BOSTON – 7/03/2020) The Massachusetts State Senate on Thursday, July 2, 2020, passed a $1.1B supplemental budget for Fiscal Year 2020 to support extraordinary costs related to the COVID-19 pandemic that require immediate attention. The spending authorized in this supplemental budget will maximize federal financial support while providing critical resources for our most vulnerable populations.
“This bill will help the Commonwealth continue to make strides in its fight against COVID-19 as well as support the many sectors impacted by this unprecedented public health crisis,” stated Senate President Karen E. Spilka (D-Ashland).
“Due to the unprecedented challenges facing our Commonwealth, this supplemental budget will allow us to maximize federal aid to support COVID-19 response costs and provide critical resources to help working families and our most vulnerable populations,” said Senator Michael J. Rodrigues, Chair of the Senate Committee on Ways & Means (D-Westport).
“Every person in our Commonwealth has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has created a public health emergency, an economic disaster, and the need for strong and effective responses by our state government,” said Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr (R – Gloucester). “This supplemental spending bill provides the resources for the actions we must take and does so in a way that maximizes our chances for federal assistance.”
To support working families during this uncertain economic time and provide health care supports in the midst of this public health crisis, the supplemental budget passed today by the Senate includes $82M for childcare needs, including emergency child care for essential workers, $15M for essential behavioral health services, including services for children, $10M for small business assistance grants, focused on minority, women and veteran-owned businesses in underserved areas and $10M to provide wage supports to workers impacted by COVID-19.
In response to growing food insecurity challenges during this pandemic, the supplemental budget provides an immediate state allocation of $15M for food security supports, including $9M for the Massachusetts Emergency Food Assistance Program to support our overstretched food bank system during this time of incredible need.
Through the amendment process, the Senate also established a $500 bonus for members of the Massachusetts National Guard who were mobilized to combat COVID-19, included increase funding to assist with coronavirus mitigation efforts at summer camps and youth programs, and create an Early Education and Child Care Public-Private Trust Fund to help inform and support child care needs across the state.
Included in the final budget was an amendment by Senator John Velis (D-Westfield) that specifically earmarks $250,000 for the Holyoke Soldiers Home. This money will go towards PPE equipment, new technology such as touchless thermometers, and other infection control resources. “What happened at the Home, can never happen again. And we need to do everything in our power to ensure that the facility has the resources it needs right now” said Velis. “I’m proud that I could advocate for the Home during this debate, and am grateful for my colleagues for all their work on this legislation.”
Other notable spending highlights of the FY 2020 COVID-19 supplemental budget include:
$350M for personal protective equipment.
$139M for rate add-ons for congregate care and other health and human service providers.
$85M for field hospitals and shelters.
$44M for the Community Tracing Collaborative.
$30M for community health centers.
$28M for local housing authorities and family and individual shelter services.
$20M for expanded RAFT coverage for families on the brink of homelessness.
$20M focused on racial disparities in the health care system during the pandemic.
$15M for elder affairs services and home care workforce wage supports.
$12.3M for early intervention services.
$10M for grants to community foundations serving low-income and immigrant populations with direct supports like housing assistance and food security supports.
$5M for increased costs related to the recent conference report on expanded vote-by-mail measures for the 2020 election cycle.
$2M to provide financial assistance to small non-profits impacted by COVID-19.
The supplemental budget also establishes Juneteenth as an official state holiday. Juneteenth is a celebration of the day in 1865 when the remaining enslaved African Americans in the United States were told of their freedom under the Emancipation Proclamation.
UPDATE: The final version of this legislation has been agreed to by the House and Senate, and been signed by the Governor.
