Well, there's a growing chorus of anger tonight after a scathing report from the Justice Department recently revealed the state run veterans homes failed residents during COVID-19 and continue to violate their constitutional rights.

Now, top state leaders appear to agree with the federal government that the nursing homes need major overhaul, but it's still unclear how they plan to do it.

Senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan reports.

It's hard for me to read it.

It really was, because some of the cases I actually knew the people.

It took Regina Discenza three tries to read through the Department of Justice's graphic report on how tragically New Jersey state run veterans homes in Paramus and Menlo Park failed residents both during the pandemic and afterwards.

Her mom and dad both lived at the Menlo Park facility, which locked down in March during COVID's lethal first wave.

My father was dead within 30 days and I was never told he was sick until the day before.

He was critical.

The DOJ report just confirmed a lot of things that families already knew.

The Feds report slam New Jersey's Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, systemic inability to implement clinical care policy, adding failure to ensure basic staff competency.

Let the virus spread virtually unchecked.

The report found systemic deficits exposed by the initial COVID outbreak have continued despite changes in leadership made by the Murphy administration.

So who's going to fix what's happening here?

So we have a bureaucratic nightmare of arguments about who's really in charge.

Congressman Bill Pascrell demanded a federal investigation in April of 2020.

The DOJ launched its review seven months later.

Governor Murphy ordered one last year.

Nobody really wants to take responsibility.

Nobody wants to be held accountable.

I want to see people appear before the justice system on the decisions they made for our veterans.

So now it's time for the Murphy administration to move.

His attorney general, to get this investigation done in level criminal charges against those that are culpable.

When you look at it for over 200 homicides, if you really want to call it that.

Jay Boxwell's with New Jersey's VFW and as long pushed for wholesale changes, he says the report proves Jersey lawmakers should entirely remove the vets homes from demolished chain of command and supports creating an entirely new Cabinet level department focused solely on Veterans Affairs.

There needs to be a cleaning of house and we need to get competent medical people in there that know how to run long term care facilities.

I think they need to get somebody into those homes ASAP, pay to make sure things are running better, that infection control protocols are there or medical care is happening.

Dave Ofshinsky worked at the Paramus Vets home and blew the whistle to news reporters about COVID deaths and incompetent management there.

He agrees with the DOJ report and wasn't surprised when he read that DMAVA execs tried to interfere with the DOJ investigation.

The staff were being interrupted and followed as the center trying to do their interviews and so forth.

They want to kind of preserve their way of doing things.

It's just not working.

DMAVA provided a list of improvements, including bid solicitations for outside consultants.

The Menlo Park home now has an interim CEO and an interim infection control specialist, director of nursing and other consultants.

Paramus has hired a licensed nursing home administrator and director of nursing consultant.

DMAVA also said nursing supervisors at all three vets homes had received 26 hours of infection control training.

All now have resident advocates and that all rooms should be converted to single occupancy for better infection control over the next five years.

I think every improvement that's possible needs to be made.

People deserve quality of life, even if it's end of life.

Discenza was among families who reached a $70 million wrongful death legal settlement with DMAVA, which admitted no wrongdoing.

The DOJ report threatens legal intervention if deficiencies aren't addressed in 49 days.

I'm Brenda Flanagan, NJ Spotlight News