BOSTON — A resident of another veterans care center in Massachusetts has died of COVID-19, officials said Wednesday.
The confirmation of the death at the Chelsea Soldiers’ Home came a day after state officials reported 13 resident deaths, at least six of which are coronavirus-related, at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home.
In addition to the one death, another resident and two staff members at the Chelsea home have tested positive. Test results are pending for one additional resident and two additional staff members.
“COVID-19 cases in the Chelsea Soldiers’ Home are being isolated, closely monitored, and tracked daily, and we are deeply saddened to report today that a resident of our community died of this infection,” home spokesman Timothy Leazott said in an emailed statement.
Gov. Charlie Baker announced Wednesday that he has hired a former federal prosecutor to investigate the deaths at the Holyoke facility.
The former prosecutor, Mark Pearlstein, is now in private practice but has substantial experience in the investigation and trial of complex white-collar criminal cases and other government enforcement matters, the governor’s office said.
A Boston hospital is building several freestanding isolation booths that allow medical workers to test people from behind the safety of a plastic panel.
Workers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital can step into the three-sided booths and slip their arms through portholes into arm-length rubber gloves to collect samples from patients.
Kevin Giordano, Brigham and Women’s senior vice president of clinical services, said the hospital plans to build 10 units and is providing information to other facilities.
In addition to keeping health care professionals safe, the booths help conserve personal protective equipment.
A Massachusetts arena is being converted to a field hospital for COVID-19 patients and should be ready just as the number of cases in the state is expected to peak, officials said.
The 250-bed field hospital at the DCU Center in Worcester, will be for the “least sick” COVID-19 patients, who do not require intensive care, Dr. Eric Dickson, president and CEO of UMass Memorial Health Care, said Tuesday.
UMass Memorial Health Care will manage the field hospital.
Dickson said he hopes to have it operational by the end of next week.
Baker said Tuesday that the state anticipates a surge of cases in mid-April.
Eighty-nine state residents have already died from COVID-19 and more than 6,600 residents have tested positive, according to the latest numbers from the state Department of Pubic Health.
For most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, or death.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston says eight of its priests have tested positive for COVID-19.
Two parish priests have already recovered, the archdiocese said in a statement Wednesday. The other six are senior priests who are receiving appropriate care either at home or at a hospital.
A Nantucket hospital is getting masks from the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
The orchestra said Wednesday it donated 450 protective masks to Nantucket Cottage Hospital. Dr. Robert Partridge, who works in the hospital’s emergency room, also serves as the symphony’s tour physician when the symphony travels overseas to perform.
Partridge had collected the masks for a planned orchestra tour of Asia, but the trip was canceled because of the pandemic.