29 people died at one of our nursing homes from #COVID19 and we still don't have answers. Families deserve to know what the hell is going on. pic.twitter.com/vMHK10IuS2
— Ron T. Kim (@rontkim) April 16, 2020
Queens nursing home where 29 died of coronavirus sparks ire, gets death threat
At least 29 people have died of the coronavirus in a single nursing home in Queens — prompting a death threat from a man “upset” by the staggering tally.
The person called the Sapphire Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in Flushing at 11 p.m. Thursday and told the receptionist that he was “upset with the way the patients are being treated there,” according to WPIX.
He then threatened to “shoot the place up and kill everybody” before hanging up, the news outlet reported, citing police.
The threat came about 12 hours after local Assemblyman Ron Kim posted a video on Twitter demanding answers about the deaths at the nursing home.
“One of my constituents’ daughter has reached out to me as she’s been stuck in the nursing home without any ability to communicate … she still can’t get in and find out what’s going on with her mother,” Kim said.
“After we discovered that there are possibly 30 to 60 people who might have passed away from the coronavirus at this nursing home, we still don’t have any answers from the state or from the nursing director,” he added.
The New York Times reported Thursday that the administrator of the 227-bed facility told the assemblyman that 29 people had died — but he said he heard from workers there that the numbers are higher.
“Everyone is trying to tell me that a lot more people died than the 29 they are citing,” Kim told the Times.
Two Sapphire staffers told the newspaper the actual death toll was as high as 60 residents.
Sapphire’s administrator, Jerry Enella, has not responded to messages from the Times.
Kim said he exchanged harsh words with Enella outside Sapphire on Wednesday afternoon and that the administrator defended the quality of care at the facility.
“It was very clear that the director was not able to handle the situation,” Kim told the Times. “We went to lend a hand and understand what they need. But they’re all about trying to get damage control and protect themselves.”
State Health Department officials evaluated conditions at the home on Thursday, Sapphire Care Group consultant Michael Balboni told the news outlet
“They are still trying to determine what the actual numbers are,” said Balboni, a former state senator. “What’s going on right now is to find out what has happened and for what period of time.”
He added, “Determining the cause of death is never that simple in the middle of a pandemic.”
Meanwhile, employees at the facility said the death toll at Sapphire was higher than 29.
“You come to your shift and this person’s gone, this person’s gone,” one worker who spoke on condition of anonymity told the Times. “We were losing five or six residents a week, then four or five a day. Last week on my shift it was about eight of them passed away. My God.”
Rhode Island resident Berna Lee said someone called her from the nursing home to let her know that her mother had a fever but was assured that there were no COVID-19 cases there.
But Lee was horrified after she began calling workers at Sapphire.
“One said, ‘Girl, let me tell you, it’s crazy here,’” Lee told the Times. “‘Six people died today.’”
Lee quickly drove to the nursing home, where workers told her privately that many patients had died, and that most of the management team was out sick or in quarantine.
“I didn’t know how bad it was,” she said. “People told me bodies were dropping.”
On Thursday, Lee said her mother was weakened by the fever and pneumonia, but was hanging on.
“I just want her to get better and I can go home,” Lee said.