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A Grieving Son Asks Why His Mother's Nursing Home Didn't Test Earlier For Deadly Virus
Amilicar Jones holds a picture of his mother and him at his college graduation. (Chava Sanchez/LAist)
More than 2,000 people have died in nursing homes in L.A. County from COVID-19. Despite the population clearly being in the high-risk group, many nursing homes didn’t begin testing until months into the pandemic.
Family members and advocates say by then, the virus was already raging, and that testing happened too late.
At the Beverly West nursing home in Los Angeles’s Little Ethiopia neighborhood, testing happened in late May. That was too late for Amilicar Jones’ 81-year-old mother. A week later, her results were back: she was positive. Hours later she was dead.
He told us:
"She was one of the most honest, caring people. I miss her. I miss her, you know, I miss her a lot."
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