Son: NJ nursing home deaths 'nerve racking'

Nursing homes across the country went into lockdown this month with mandatory measures to protect their frail, elderly residents from coronavirus, but an alarming wave of deadly outbreaks nearly every day since suggests the steps that included a ban on visits and daily health screenings of staffers either came too late or were not rigorous enough.

A nursing home in New Jersey has had eight deaths due to COVID-19, according to a letter posted on the official website of the town of Wanaque, about 25 miles northwest of New York City.

Anthony Gesimondo's 88-year-old mother, Marie, has been at the Lakeland Health Care Center in Wanaque for about six or seven months and is in good health with no serious underlying conditions.

Gesimondo said he only found out about the deaths when his wife was scrolling through Facebook.

"I then signed onto my Facebook and read the letter. I'm like, all right. I got to make a phone call here because there was no notification at all."

Gesimondo said the center had called about 10 days ago to tell him one person had been infected.

"You can notify me when one person gets sick. You can't notify me when a variety of people get sick being staff and/or patients and patients pass away," Gesimondo said.

"That was a little nerve racking."

Gesimondo said that in the last 10 days he had been unable to contact his mother except for two very brief phone conversations due to a problem with the facility's phone system.

He couldn't visit because only residents in hospice have been allowed to receive visitors under a state order earlier this month.

Gesimondo said the facility was "fantastic" prior to the outbreak.

'"We can't really say it's nobody's fault because somebody brought, you know, brought COVID- 19 in," Gesimondo said,

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.

Lakeland officials haven't returned phone messages left this week.