Lack of readiness, questionable federal inspection helped fuel first U.S. COVID-19 outbreak
On February 12, before anyone suspected COVID-19, Nancy Butner's nursing staff noticed a cluster of residents with the same respiratory illness. By then, Life Care knew it had a respiratory infection spreading in the building. 911 CallDispatcher: 911 Emergency… She's having difficulty breathing or can she…Caller (Life Care): Absolutely, and she was diagnosed with pneumonia a couple of days ago...One by one, Life Care started sending sick residents to nearby Evergreen Hospital. Twenty were from the Life Care nursing facility. The result was a 48-page 'statement of deficiencies' which said that Life Care failed to manage the outbreak, putting residents in immediate jeopardy.
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