Nearly half of the remaining residents of the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Home have tested positive for the coronavirus, which has now killed more than one of every six residents of the nursing home in the deadliest such cluster seen in the state.

So far, 24 deaths have been attributed to the virus in the Reserve home, which held around 150 veterans when the outbreak began, according to Brandee Patrick, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Veterans Affairs, which runs the facility.

In the last month alone, there have been 43 deaths, though just over half of them were attributed to the virus.

St. John the Baptist Parish Coroner Christy Montegut has said it's possible that some of those who died in the nursing home early in the outbreak could have in fact had the virus. New evidence shows the virus was infecting Americans earlier than was previously thought.

There are now just 96 residents left, five of whom are hospitalized with COVID-19. Of the 91 still in the home, 47 have tested negative for the coronavirus, 34 have tested positive, and six had inconclusive test results. Four others tested positive earlier in the pandemic but are now considered recovered, Patrick said.

The massive spread of the virus around the home has been agonizing for those with relatives inside.

"All I can tell you is my dad was negative; hopefully he stays that way," said Connie Bourgeois, whose father, Sidney Haydel, 95, lives in the home. "I have been really worried, and I thought about taking him out. But it would be hard for me to take care of him. And I know if he did get sick they could treat him there."

The facility has been on lockdown for more than a month, with visits prohibited and contact limited to phone calls and videoconferencing.

"We just miss him," Bourgeois said, who talks to her dad on the phone almost every day. He is lucid but legally blind, and has trouble walking, she said.

+3 All residents of St. John Parish veterans home decimated by coronavirus will now be tested All residents of the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Home in Reserve will be tested for coronavirus, officials say, a policy meant to finally and…

Haydel served as a medic in World War II, taking a bullet to the head in France while tending to a wounded soldier, an injury that left him in a coma for roughly a month. After recovering, he came home to St. Charles Parish and worked his entire adult life at the Shell refinery in Norco, Bourgeois said.

As the death toll at the home has mounted, department officials announced last week that they would test everyone in the home, regardless of their symptoms. The new protocol was recommended by the home's medical director after "additional COVID-19 testing [was] made available to our home" by the state Office of Public Health and St. James Hospital, officials have said.

It's unclear whether officials wanted to conduct more widespread testing earlier in the pandemic.

Patrick said staffers are re-testing all residents who tested negative or inconclusive for the coronavirus as a precaution.

Patrick said the facility is not requiring all employees to be tested, a decision she said is in keeping with state and federal guidelines.

"If employees are symptomatic, they are stopped at the point of entry of the facility through our regular screening process and directed to see their personal physician and/or get tested at a public site," she said.

So far, a total of 18 staffers have tested positive since the pandemic began, Patrick said. Seven of them are out sick, while 11 have recovered and are back at work.

Bourgeois said the staff at the facility has been very good with patients and their relatives.

"I think they’re doing the best they can," she said. "It’s really hard for them. They've been really great about calling and giving us updates."

Nursing homes have been a major nexus of coronavirus deaths, in Louisiana and across the United States. About one-third of the 1,540 deaths attributed to COVID-19 in the state so far have taken place in nursing homes and senior facilities, according to officials with the Louisiana Department of Health. The outbreak at the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Home has been the deadliest so far, followed by a cluster at the Lambeth House retirement complex in Uptown New Orleans, where at least 18 have died.

The cluster of deaths partly explains why St. John the Baptist Parish, where the home is located, has had one of the highest per-capita death rates from coronavirus of any U.S. county. More than 40% of the parish's deaths to date involved residents of the veterans home.

State officials to date have not been able to provide information showing how many people die at the veterans home in a typical month. But in the five weeks preceding March 23, eight residents died, compared to 43 in the month since.

Since Feb. 15, 51 people have died at the home, though less than half those deaths have been blamed on coronavirus.