At least 43 have died at facility

Kimberly Hall North in Windsor among worst US death rates

Death certificates reviewed by the Courant show at least 43 people have died of complications from COVID-19 at Kimberly Hall North in Windsor, making it one of the hardest hit long-term care facilities in the country.

The number of deaths is likely higher because the data is only through April 24, but the devastation is still on par with a nursing home in Kirkland, Washington, that has been the example pointed out many times by Gov. Ned Lamont of what the state was trying to avoid. At least 37 deaths have been linked to the coronavirus outbreak at Life Care Center of Kirkland.

As of mid-March, the state listed Kimberly Hall as having 146 patients, which means almost 30% of the patients there have died — a death rate that may be among the highest

“I wish I could tell you exactly why they had so many at that facility, when others ... don’t, but that speaks to how much we don’t know yet about this virus.”

Dr. Richard Feifer, senior vice president and medical officer for Genesis, which operates Kimberly Hall North in Windsor

in the country.

The death certificates also call into question what information the facility has been sharing with state officials.

The first time the state Department of Public Health put out data on deaths in nursing homes on April 16, they listed Kimberly Hall North as having nine deaths.

But death certificate data shows that, as of April 16, there had already been 25 COVIDassociated deaths — almost three times more than what the facility told state officials.

Kimberly Hall North officials referred questions about the deaths to Genesis HealthCare, a for-profit company which operates the Windsor nursing home along with 500 other facilities around the country. Calls to Genesis weren’t returned Wednesday.

It is unclear why state officials were unaware of that large discrepancy in death totals, but they have been behind in recording deaths in long-term care facilities for weeks and have been frustrated by what some nursing homes have reported.

Last week, Lamont issued an executive order mandating nursing homes report daily to the state Department of Public Health how many deaths they have had and how many positive cases.

The first to die in Kimberly Hall North was a 93-year-old man named William Tamburro, whose death certificate cites “complications of COVID-19 due to Respiratory Infection due to Acute Respiratory Distress” as his cause of death. Many death certificates say something similar.

John Tamburro said his father was not tested for the virus, but he knew something was wrong when he went to visit his father shortly before he died.

“The door was closed and they said it was some kind of respiratory issue,” John Tamburro said. “We always said something would get him, whether it was the flu or something else. He didn’t have nothing left to fight with.”

One silver lining for the Tamburro family is that they were able to bury William Tamburro with full military honors in public.

“He was the last one to get the full military burial. [The Navy] called the next day to say it was suspended,” John Tamburro said.

Tamburro was in Kimberly Hall North’s dementia unit, which appears to be where the virus started to spread. Several of the victims had either dementia or Alzheimer’s as contributing factors on their death certificate, records show.

The connection to dementia patients, who require constant attention from staff, may partially explain why Kimberly Hall South, which is right next door, has only had two deaths so far — all of the dementia patients are kept in a locked unit in the Kimberly Hall North building.

After that first death, there were only four days through April 24 without any deaths at Kimberly Hall North, records show. There were seven days when three people died per day, as the virus spread at an alarming rate.

During the five days between April 13 and 18 there were 13 deaths, records show.

None of the deaths appear to be health care workers. Genesis HealthCare hasn’t said how many employees have been infected. But family members have said Kimberly Hall officials have told them on Zoom conference calls that 28 staff members were out sick at one point and believed to have COVID-19, and that many of them have already returned to work.

Last week, the senior vice president and medical officer for Genesis, Dr. Richard Feifer, participated in a conference call with other nursing home providers and acknowledged the crisis inside Kimberly Hall.

“There’s truly a devastating number of deaths and cases,”

Feifer said.

At that time, Feifer said there had been 35 deaths at Kimberly Hall North. A few days later, when the state released numbers on nursing home deaths, they listed 34 deaths. The latest death totals are expected to be released Thursday.

“Our heart goes out to their families and to the caretakers who are torn apart by the devastation that has taken hold,” Feifer said.

Feifer said he doesn’t have any answers as to why Kimberly Hall North has been overrun.

“As we have learned throughout the country, the virus doesn’t pick and choose based upon any primer that we can determine,” Feifer said. “I wish I could tell you exactly why they had so many at that facility, when others at Genesis and others around the country and state don’t, but that speaks to how much we don’t know yet about this virus and how exactly it is so contagious and how to contain it.”