(AP) — A Hawai’i island veterans home that suffered a coronavirus outbreak resulting in several patient deaths is under new management. Hawai’i Public Radio reported the Yukio Okutsu State Veterans Home in Hilo will be operated by the Hawai’i Health Systems Corporation under the management of Administrator Kau’i Chartrand. An August COVID-19 outbreak at Yukio Okutsu infected 35 staff and 71 residents, including 27 who died. The state-owned health care organization took over the home in an agreement resulting in Utah-based Avalon Health Care relinquishing control of the facility, which the company ran since it opened in 2007. Avalon did not immediately respond Tuesday to an email seeking comment.

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