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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.

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.