An Alabama National Guard team was disinfecting at the Robert L. Howard State Veterans Home this morning as part of a mission to stop the spread of the Covid-19 virus at nursing homes around the state.
The team, part of a special Guard task force, arrived in a white bus at the Pell City-based facility, one of four state veterans homes in Alabama. The Howard facility has 246 residents and 346 employees.

A Guard team has already been to the Bill Nichols State Veterans Home in Alexander City, where eight residents have died from complications attributed to the virus, according to the state Department of Veterans Affairs.

A Guard team did a disinfection operation on April 23 at the Tutt Fann home in Huntsville, and team is slated to visit the William F. Green home in Bay Minette sometime in May.

Earlier this month, tests showed 64 of the Nichols residents and 23 of its employees had tested positive for the virus, the veterans department stated. Three employees at the Green facility also have tested positive.

Alabama has a population of about 400,000 veterans. About 700 live at the four state veterans homes.