Inside The Final Days Of COVID-19, San Diego County Families Speak Out After Deaths
Speaker 1: 00:00 Across San Diego County, more than 400 people have died of COVID-19 for some families, they're sudden deaths leave behind questions about what went wrong. I knew source investigative reporter. Mary plumber has this story on how one family in national city is coping. It's Joseph Bond birthday, but this is not the celebration. The Bundock family hoped for Speaker 2: 00:28 [inaudible] Speaker 1: 00:31 Friends and family are gathered at Miramar national cemetery wearing masks. COVID-19 took Joseph's life back in may. His body was flown home to San Diego from Boston. He was there working as a civil service Mariner. When an outbreak of COVID hit the dry dock Navy ship, undergoing maintenance that he was working on, Speaker 2: 00:52 It was doing well. Uh, obviously before he reported. And then he, he obviously caught it there Speaker 1: 00:59 That's Joseph's friend, Archie drew Scion. They serve together in the Navy years ago. He says Joseph was committed to his work. A guy who wouldn't say no, do sign questions. What went wrong and why Joseph was sent to Boston in the midst of the pandemic, Speaker 2: 01:14 Common sense should have prevailed. And, um, this could have been prevented. That's that's one of the big things Speaker 1: 01:22 Before leaving the cemetery, Joseph's family gathers around his grave to flower bouquets, sit in front of the temporary headstone. They say a prayer. Then they sing Speaker 2: 01:37 [inaudible]. Speaker 1: 01:38 This day would have been his 55th birthday. Speaker 2: 01:48 [inaudible] Speaker 1: 01:49 Joseph left his wife and three children for Boston in good health. Aside from high blood pressure and cholesterol he'd been managing his wife would shoulda says he told her masks were not required or provided until the second week. And at first, no social distancing was in place about a month in. He started feeling sick and got a fever. He found testing and it confirmed Joseph was positive for COVID-19. It was the news. His wife had feared the news that made it hard for her to eat or sleep, but cannot even eat that. The slave lets the Speaker 2: 02:26 Yeah, hoping every day for a good news. Speaker 1: 02:30 The good news didn't come. He returned to his hotel to isolate, but left a few days later by ambulance, which held a hand, wrote notes in her calendar on his condition May 1st ICU May 2nd lungs week, May 3rd weaker, which held us as the pain of losing him was so bad that the days go black Joseph was placed on a ventilator and was unable to talk to his family for the last two and a half weeks of his life. He died in the hospital, them on May 21st, which held a says during their last conversation, he encouraged her Speaker 2: 03:05 Conversation was like, don't cry. I'm not gonna die. I'm the gloving, Andy, where Speaker 1: 03:15 Now, which holder remembers her husband, Joseph by flipping through photo books and keepsakes, there are carefully preserved pictures from their wedding day in the Philippines photos of the family, smiling at Disneyland tickets from SeaWorld, Brad and Joseph jr. The couple's two youngest kids remember him this way. Speaker 2: 03:34 Like he was a, like a loving and caring dad. It was so sad that money died. That was every night. I almost cried about him being this. And right now Speaker 1: 03:48 The military Sealift command, which maintains the Navy ship where Joseph got sick declined an interview request, a spokesperson said orders were in place when Joseph arrived for social distancing and use of personal protective gear in a statement, as spokesperson said, the tactics to fight the virus evolved as they learn more. But repair work had to continue. Joining me is I knew source investigative reporter, Mary Plummer, Mary. Welcome. Thank you. The military Sealift command, which maintains the Navy ship where mr. Bond doc got sick, told you the opposite of what he said about a lack of precautions. When he went to Boston in may, in addition to mr. Boondocks illness, did the virus impact others? Uh, so Joseph Bond doc was among 24 of 47, uh, crew members who tested positive. And he was the first and only one who had died from the coronavirus. As you mentioned, the military Sealift command did say that orders were in place for precautions on docs. Speaker 1: 04:54 Family, uh, has a very different experience of this from what they learned directly from Joseph Bond doc. And you know, the problem really goes beyond just this ship, the outbreak on the ship, uh, which was called the U S and S Libra Grumman. Uh, it was among several, the military struggled to contain as the pandemic took hold this spring. Uh, over two dozen of the Navy's battle for ships have reported at least one positive COVID-19 case. Now, Mary, this is the first report of several that you've done for broadcast. And on the web profiling people in San Diego who've died from COVID-19. What did you want to tell these stories? Uh, we really wanted to, um, you know, put a personal side to some of his statistics that, um, all of us living in San Diego have heard we've gotten very familiar with the numbers, but as we kind of took a look at some of the reporting that was out there already, there was a nameless quality to some of these deaths. We wanted to look not just at the lives of those. Who've been lost to COVID-19, but at systematic problems that contributed to their deaths. And, uh, along with my colleagues way co reported this with what we learned is that COVID-19 policies, um, you know, aren't necessarily being followed in some cases. And that safety precaution sometimes come too late or are mishandled. Speaker 3: 06:16 Yeah. In many of the cases that you report, we, we read about delays and mistakes that may have contributed to the deaths of these San Diego. Ans tell us more about Speaker 1: 06:25 That. Yes. Um, so for this story, um, one, one person that we focused on was a veteran who didn't receive a potentially lifesaving plasma therapy on time because the supply was tainted. Uh, in another case of women likely caught the virus from home health care workers who tended to her sick husband. Uh, we also talked to one family who had numerous family members who struggled to get timely testing. Two of them ended up dying of COVID-19. So in many of these cases, um, there were things that happened with the care of the loved ones that certainly could have been improved. And many of these families are really left, um, questioning and wondering about, you know, what happened in the final days of their loved ones. Speaker 3: 07:13 We're now more than 400 official COVID-19 deaths reported in the County. Are there more that you believe have never been tested or counted? Speaker 1: 07:22 Uh, the numbers represent deaths that the County is aware of, but our reporting found not all deaths were included. Uh, we just heard the story of Joseph Bond, doc's family. Uh, he for example, is a San Diego County resident. His family has owned their home in national city for seven years, but his death did not appear in the data. Um, because he was out of state, uh, uh, County spokesperson suggested that it may have been that there was a wag and reporting from that state. Um, but what's clear is that, you know, the numbers that we know of are the known deaths, but certainly the loss, uh, expands out greater than that. Speaker 3: 08:01 And mr. Bond doc's case, and many of the others, your report on the families are left devastated, and some actually feel guilty. Why is that? Speaker 1: 08:11 In one case, we interviewed a family who had recently placed their father into a memory care facility in January. Uh, this was of course shortly before the pandemic hit the area. They were soon, you know, walked out of being able to see him and he ended up dying of COVID-19. So I think for, for a lot of these families, you know, they're questioning the decisions. There was an agony for that family in not being able to be with him in the final weeks of his life and not understanding that he was sick early enough. And a lot of people that we talk to, um, have a lot of questions about, you know, how the final day is, uh, were handled for their loved ones. The second part of this series runs tomorrow. Mary, give us a preview of what we'll hear. Tomorrow's story goes inside of the family that I just described. Uh, they live in Bay park and we'll hear exactly what happened from their point of view and from the facility's point of view and where can people find all the profiles you've done? I knew source.org is our website. They of course are also up@kpbs.org and there are photos and, and videos as well. So you can hear from the families directly, I've been speaking with, I knew source investigative reporter and Mary Plummer. Mary. Thank you. Thank you.
