1 May 2022: New Criminal Probe Launched Into COVID Deaths in NJ Veterans Homes

Another investigation launched into the over 200 COVID deaths in NJ veterans homes

This report was originally posted on 28 April 2022. A new probe has been opened into what happened in New Jersey's state government-run veterans homes (a.k.a nursing homes for U.S. military veterans), making it the third such active criminal investigation. Here's the introduction to the report:

A third investigation into the deaths of more than 200 residents of New Jersey's veterans homes during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic has been opened by an independent state agency that reports on government malfeasance, a state commissioner revealed this week.

The State Commission of Investigation is looking into how the outbreak at the Paramus, Menlo Park and Vineland homes became one of the nation's worst COVID-related nursing home disasters, Military and Veterans Affairs Commissioner Lisa Hou told a legislative panel on Tuesday.

The commission joins probes by the state Attorney General's Office and the U.S. Department of Justice.

“None of them have been completed as of yet," Hou, a brigadier general, said under questioning from the Senate budget committee. "We’ve provided and complied with everything they asked for. I am also looking forward to the results of those.”

That's now one federal investigation and two state investigations. There have been no updates on either the U.S. DOJ's probe since October 2021 and longer for the NJ state attorney general's investigation.