98 deaths reported at nursing home
NEW YORK — A New York City nursing home on Friday reported the deaths of 98 residents believed to have had the coronavirus — a staggering death toll that shocked public officials.
“It’s absolutely horrifying,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said. “It’s inestimable loss, and it’s just impossible to imagine so many people lost in one place.”
Officials at the 705bed Isabella Geriatric Center confirmed that through Wednesday 46 residents who tested positive for COVID19 had died as well as an additional 52 people “suspected” to have the virus. Some died at the nursing home and some died after being treated at hospitals.
The number of bodies became so overwhelming the home ordered a refrigerator truck to store them because funeral homes have been taking days to pick up the deceased.
“Isabella, like all other nursing homes in New York City, initially had limited access to widespread and consistent inhouse testing,” Audrey Waters, a spokeswoman for the nursing home, wrote in an email. “This hampered our ability to identify those who were infected and asymptomatic, despite our efforts to swiftly separate anyone who presented symptoms.”
Isabella also encountered staffing shortages, prompting it to hire from outside agencies, along with early challenges securing personal protective equipment for employees.
The nursing home’s death toll was first reported by local cable news station NY1.
Nursing homes have been known since the earliest days of the outbreak as trouble spots. They have been particularly hard hit in New York, which has had at least 3,065 nursing home deaths — by far the most in the nation — as of Thursday, according to an Associated Press count.
The state Department of Health said it has received “outbreak reports” from 239 nursing homes, including at least six facilities with death tolls of 40 patients or more.
“The one thing we now know about the nursing homes is the status quo cannot continue, to say the least,” de Blasio said. “Something very different has to happen.”
City officials are “trying to provide help in every way we can,” the mayor added, saying the city had delivered thousands of respirator masks to the facility in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan.
Rep. Adriano Espaillat, DN.Y., sent a letter Friday to Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York Attorney General Letitia James urging them to investigate the “information sharing practices” of New York nursing homes.
The nursing home said it “could not speculate” as to why a state survey previously listed only 13 COVID19 deaths at the facility. It sent a lengthy statement to the Associated Press on Friday insisting it “truthfully and accurately reported” its death toll to state officials.
The nursing home said it advised family members about changes in their loved ones’ conditions despite the circumstances.