Jan 7, 2022 - Health

New Jersey deploys National Guard to nursing homes as COVID surges

Erin Doherty

Members of the New York Army National Guard at the Morris County Covid-19 vaccination site at the Townsquare Mall in Rockaway, New Jersey, U.S., on Friday, Jan. 8, 2021 — New York Army National Guard at the Morris County COVID-19 vaccination site at the Townsquare Mall in Rockaway, N.J., on Jan. 8, 2021. Photo: Sarah Blesener/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said Thursday that the National Guard will deploy to long-term care facilities across the state to assist with COVID-19 outbreaks and staffing shortages due to the virus.

The big picture: New Jersey nursing homes were devastated during the early stages of the pandemic and experienced some of the highest death tolls in the country.

Officials at two of the deadliest nursing home sites in the state — Menlo Park and Paramus Veterans Memorial Homes — agreed last month to pay $53 million to families of 119 veterans who died of COVID in facilities, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Families of individuals who died claimed that managers in the facilities acted with gross negligence in fending off the pandemic, per the Journal.
The settlement amounts to approximately $445,000 per family.

Driving the news: "This deployment will send members of our National Guard to long-term care facilities with staffing needs and will act to protect the health and safety of long-term-care residents while the Omicron variant surges throughout the nation," Murphy said in a statement.

Approximately 150 members of the New Jersey National Guard will support more than a dozen long-term care facilities, where they will assist with administrative and logistical support, among other things.
Guard members are expected to begin at their assigned locations on Jan. 10, per the New Jersey Department of Health.

Go deeper: Nursing homes could be forced to close if staff shortages worsen

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