NY nursing home reports 98 coronavirus deaths
A FRESH York City nursing home on Friday reported the deaths of 98 residents thought to experienced the coronavirus - an astounding death toll that shocked public officials.
"It's absolutely horrifying," Mayor Bill de Blasio said. "It's inestimable loss, and it's really just impossible to assume so many people lost in a single place."
It is hard to state whether the spate of deaths at the Isabella Geriatric Center, in Manhattan, may be the worst nursing home outbreak yet in the U.S., because even within the location facilities have chosen to report fatalities in several ways. A state tally of nursing home deaths released Friday listed only 13 at the house.
But officials at the 705-bed center confirmed that through Wednesday 46 residents who tested positive for COVID-19 had died together with an additional 52 persons "suspected" to have the virus. Some died at the nursing home plus some died after being treated at hospitals.
The amount of bodies became so overwhelming the home ordered a refrigerator truck to store them because funeral homes have been taking days to get the deceased.
"Isabella, like all other nursing homes in New York City, initially had limited usage of widespread and consistent in-house testing to quickly diagnose our residents and staff," Audrey Waters, a spokeswoman for the nursing home, wrote within an email. "This hampered our capability to identify those that were infected and asymptomatic, despite our efforts to swiftly separate anyone who presented symptoms."
Isabella also encountered staffing shortages, prompting it to employ from outside agencies and early challenges securing personal protective equipment for employees. Waters said the home finally is "getting ultimately more usage of testing" now.
The nursing home's death toll was initially reported by local cable news station NY1.
Nursing homes have already been known because the earliest days of the outbreak as a trouble spot. They have already been particularly hard hit in New York, which includes had at least 3,065 nursing home deaths - the most in the country - by Thursday, according to an Associated Press count.
The state dept. of Health said it has received "outbreak reports" from 239 nursing homes, including at least six facilities with death tolls of 40 patients or even more.
"The one thing we have now know about the nursing homes is the status quo cannot continue steadily to say the least," de Blasio said. "Something very different must happen."
City officials are "trying to provide assist in every way we are able to," the mayor added, saying metropolis had delivered thousands of respirator masks to the Washington Heights facility.
U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat, a fresh York Democrat, accused Isabella of keeping the public and elected officials at night about the outbreak. He sent a letter Friday to Gov. Andrew Cuomo and NY Attorney General Letitia James urging them to investigate the "information sharing practices" of NY nursing homes.
"People deserve to learn what's happening," Espaillat said in an interview with AP.
Isabella Geriatric Center said it "could not speculate" as to the reasons circumstances survey previously listed only 13 COVID-19 deaths at its facility. It sent an extended statement to AP on Friday insisting it "truthfully and accurately reported" its death toll to state officials.
State officials said they are building an updated data set designed to offer a more detailed window into nursing home deaths. Cuomo described a "vagueness" in a few reporting of suspected COVID-19 cases but warned nursing homes never to misrepresent their death tolls.
"They submit these numbers under penalty of perjury," Cuomo told reporters. "They are often prosecuted criminally for fraud on these reporting numbers."
Isabella said it kept members of the family in the loop about changes within their loved ones' conditions despite the circumstances.
"Whenever we believe their cherished one is nearing death, we do get in touch with a resident's primary contact and have if they wish to say goodbye in person or via phone or an app," Waters said. "In-person goodbye visits were never interrupted and continue steadily to happen."
