In a statement to NBC News, Michael Balboni, the Executive Director of Greater New York Health Care Facilities Association/Consultant to Sapphire Center, confirmed 29 residents at Sapphire Center, a rehabilitation and nursing facility in Flushing, Queens, died between March 1 and April 15.
"Within that timetable if it is 29 dead it is a tragedy and everyone is a life but during a pandemic like this it would not be an aberration," he said. "It is a very trying time for a long term facility." However, workers at the 227-bed facility told The New York Times it's possible that as many as 60 residents have died.
Balboni insisted that PPEs are not an issue, adding that the New York City Department of Health officials were at the center on Thursday and found no issues. "As stunning and shocking as these numbers are we will see more of this at assisted living facilities. This is a cruel disease the targets the elderly and the infirm," Balboni continued.
The Times first reported Thursday that residents' family members were worried about their loved ones due to the lack of information they've received from the center's administrator. Local assemblyman Ron Kim says that family members reached out to him to find out what's going on because they cannot get in contact with their loved ones. The nursing home is short-staffed and they lack personal protective equipment, Kim said.
"They deserve to know their families are being kept safe and they are practicing social distance, they're being tested. These are lives where every second count inside these nursing homes," Kim said.
The problem is not unique to this nursing facility. The largest increase in nursing home deaths was in New York state, where the death count soared from 1,330 last week to 3,060, as of Wednesday, a state health spokeswoman told NBC News. That means that 2.3 percent of the estimated 131,000 New York residents who live in nursing homes and assisted living facilities have died from the coronavirus so far.
"Determining the actual numbers of dead as well as who had COVID is never easy during a pandemic because determining cause of death with the elderly is difficult due to other pre-existing conditions which includes co-morbidities," Balboni said.
In the neighboring state of New Jersey, the coronavirus has spread to more than 95% of the state’s 375 long-term care facilities, according to state health officials. Earlier this week, police found 17 bodies inside a small morgue at the Andover Subacute and Rehabilitation Center in Sussex County. On Gov. Phil Murphy announced Thursday that the attorney general will be looking into the staggering number of deaths.
New Jersey police found 17 bodies in one of the state's largest nursing homes after an anonymous tip said a body was being stored in a shed. A total of 68 people associated with the Andover Subacute and Rehabilitation centres have recently died, with 26 having tested positive for Covid-19.
Police did not find a body in the shed, but said the facility's tiny morgue was "overwhelmed". New Jersey has over 71,000 cases and 3,100 deaths due to the coronavirus. Over the weekend, the nursing home had requested 25 body bags from authorities. On Monday, police received the anonymous tip about a body being kept in a shed. Instead, they found 17 bodies kept in a morgue built to house four.
The two buildings at the facility have nearly 700 beds. "They were just overwhelmed by the amount of people who were expiring," Andover police chief Eric Danielson told the New York Times. It is unclear whether any of the 17 deaths were due to the coronavirus.
Chaim Scheinbaum, a co-owner of the nursing home, addressed the morgue problem in an email to New Jersey Congressman Josh Gottheimer, according to the Associated Press. "The backup and after hours holiday weekend issues, plus more than average deaths, contributed to the presence of more deceased than normal in the facility holding room," he said. Mr Scheinbaum also said the facility is adequately staffed.
How big is the problem in care homes? Seventy-six patients have tested positive for Covid-19 along with 41 staff members between the two buildings, according to the Times. Thirteen bodies were moved to a refrigerated truck at a neighbouring hospital, while the remaining four were to be sent to a funeral home.
The nursing home owner has since obtained a refrigerated truck for bodies, local media reported. An Andover employee told the New Jersey Herald, which first reported the story, that in the second building, 65 residents had died since 31 March.
The centre is one of New Jersey's largest nursing homes. Family members have expressed concerns to the Herald, saying they received little information before their loved ones died. The state governor, Phil Murphy, said he was "outraged that the bodies of the dead were allowed to pile up in a makeshift morgue at the facility".
"New Jerseyans living in our long-term care facilities deserve to be cared for with respect, compassion, and dignity," he said, adding that he had asked the attorney general to review all long-term care facilities that had experienced a disproportionate number of deaths.
According to New Jersey's health commissioner, 10% of 60,000 people in care facilities across the state have Covid-19. The state's health department has sent thousands of additional supplies to the nursing homes to help combat the virus. On 4 April, the department also ordered nursing homes to inform staff, other patients and families within 24 hours if anyone in the facility tested positive for Covid-19.
