100 infected, 10 dead as coronavirus sweeps through Atlanta nursing home

ATLANTA — Channel 2 Action News has learned that a nursing home in Atlanta has more patients with the coronavirus than almost anywhere else in the state.

Channel 2’s Justin Wilfon confirmed the Georgia National Guard was called in to the clean the Legacy Transitional Care and Rehab facility on Auburn Avenue in northeast Atlanta, where more than 100 patients have tested positive for COVID-19.

So far, 10 people have died from the virus at that facility.

On Wednesday, Wilfon spoke with Shirley Hudson, who said her mother died in the home.

“I was telling my mom how much I loved her, missed her and I would be seeing her soon,” Hudson said about one of the last times she spoke with her mother. “I would not want a family to go through this again.”

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The latest numbers from the Georgia Department of Community Health shows more than 100 residents tested positive for the virus. That leaves only 25 residents who do not have the virus.

“It’s tearing me apart,” Hudson said.

Channel 2 Action News has heard from at least two families who claim the facility wasn’t transparent about the growing number of cases.

Dian Glasco said her brother is one of the 25 people who hasn’t caught the virus yet. She told Wilfon she fears for her brother’s safety.

“I was alerted to it by one of the health care workers at the facility who told me she was very, very scared and that the facility was in really bad shape,” Glasco said. “They should remove the patients that are negative and put them in a safer environment, put them in hotel rooms or something.”

Glasco said she hopes that Legacy will find some way to protect her brother.

“I just don’t know how to get him safe right now," she said.

Wilfon tried calling Legacy repeatedly to ask about the staff’s efforts to contain the virus. Management has not returned his calls so far.

Hudson said she now wants answers.

“Nothing but lies. That’s all they did,” Hudson said.

The Fulton County Health Department said it has also worked with the facility to try to improve conditions there.

Are nursing homes accurately counting coronavirus deaths? One family says no Channel 2?s Sophia Choi started looking into the issue after hearing from a local family who?s loved one died showing COVID-19 symptoms.

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