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Family Calls for Investigation Into Hayward Nursing Home After Coronavirus Death

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Costell Akrie, 87, had almost recovered after a diabetic episode when COVID-19 tore through his nursing home. His family has filed a complaint and is seeking an investigation. (Courtesy of John Burris Law Offices)

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The family of an African American man is demanding a wider investigation after he contracted COVID-19 and died during a brief stay at an Alameda County nursing home. They've also filed a complaint with state regulators.

Nine people have died and 66 people have tested positive for the virus at the Gateway Care and Rehabilitation Center in Hayward, according to numbers released Friday by county health officials.

That includes 87-year-old Costell Akrie, who is survived by his wife and son.

“Notwithstanding Mr. Akrie’s age, he should not be dead as a result of the coronavirus,” said civil rights attorney John Burris, who represents the family.

A longtime Oakland resident, Akrie (R), shown here with his wife Dianne (C), was one of the first black managers at United Airlines, and was the chief of veterans’ affairs for the Bay Area Urban League. (Courtesy of John Burris Law Offices)

Akrie was an active retiree who, his family said, read three books a week and took an exercise class until he had a diabetic episode late in February. Kaiser Permanente sent him to Gateway in early March for physical rehabilitation.

Akrie wasn’t supposed to be there long; a wound delayed his release. And then the facility was closed to visitors under state orders that permitted limited exceptions for end-of-life circumstances.

His widow, Dianne, said she was told her husband contracted the virus on March 21. Akrie's family members say a week before that — when they were last able to visit — they saw Gateway staffers without gloves, masks and other protective gear.

Adante Pointer, a lawyer with the Burris law firm, said the firm’s ongoing investigation indicates the nursing home may have required staffers with symptoms to continue to work anyway. He calls Akrie's death "tragic but preventable."

The family said it filed a complaint with the California Department of Public Health, which regulates the nursing home. Pointer and Burris argue the circumstances merit a wider investigation, and possibly criminal prosecution.

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"We want to know whether this facility operated below the acceptable standard of care, and that they did what they were supposed to do to ensure that their resident and or their employees would not contract the coronavirus," Burris said.

Two calls to Gateway’s administrator, Andre Aldridge, have not been returned.

In one instance, a woman who answered the facility’s main number said that Aldridge was busy. “What allegations are they making?” she said, when Akrie’s name was mentioned. After being informed of the family’s allegations, she said, “That’s just not true,” and hung up.

Burris argues it’s urgent to examine why the man died because of potential disparities in who gets the virus and who recovers.

Last week, health officials in New York said Latino and black residents were disproportionately dying from COVID-19, and similar statistics have come out of other large cities as well, like Chicago.

It's not at all clear how racial disparities among patients who may have the coronavirus are playing out in California, yet. Just a few counties statewide are making data about race and the virus public so far, and Alameda County is not one of them. And since testing availability and policy is inconsistent around the state, even the counted pools of cases, information concerning hospitalizations and deaths is incomplete.

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Akrie grew up in an orphan's home. He served in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War, worked his way through college at three jobs to support his family, earned two bachelor's degrees and one master's. He also loved music.

In Akrie’s final days, his widow Dianne said she couldn’t reach him to say goodbye.

“He was honest, he was compassionate, he was good and he was kind,” she said.

Scott Akrie, her son, is in San Diego. He said he and his mother will grieve separately until the worst threat of the virus has passed.

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