Not all that long ago, I speculated that if the bug got loose in other nursing homes, we’d see results like this.

Coronavirus infections continue to rise at Holyoke Soldiers’ Home; 32 dead

The number of veterans living at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home who have tested positive for the coronavirus continues to increase while one additional resident has died from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours.

A dozen additional veterans have now tested positive, meaning more than half the residents at the state-run home for the elderly and infirm have contracted the virus, officials for the Executive Office of Health and Human Services said.

Currently 32 veterans have died from COVID-19 and 88 have contracted the virus. Six other residents have died of other causes since the first veteran tested positive from COVID-19 on March 21. When the virus was first detected there were about 210 residents at the home.

Staff at the Soldiers’ Home has recently partnered with Holyoke Medical Center and Baystate Health to improve testing and is now getting results within 24 hours, officials said.

Tests of all employees show 78 have contracted the disease while 222 employees have tested negative, officials said.