Ashland Board of Health Mandates Nursing Homes & Assisted Living Staff Be Tested For COVID-19

ASHLAND – The Ashland Board of Health took a vote to mandate that staff at nursing homes and assisted living facilities all be tested for the COVID-19 virus.

The Ashland Board of Health is the first community in the state to do this said Ashland Town manager Michael Herbert.

“When COVID-19 gets into one of these facilities, it is really hard to get it out,” said Herbert, who added there is a hypothesis that is what is bringing the virus into these senior facilities is not the residents but the staff.

Six residents from the Waterview Lodge Rehab & Healthcare and 1 resident from The Residence at Valley Farm have died due to the virus or complications from the virus in Ashland.

The Massachusetts National Guard has been at both Ashland facilities to test for the virus.