♪ tonight, the inside story. one nursing home overrun by covid-19. >> when bodies are piling up, there's something wrong. >> now an investigation. we're with the families and officials looking for answers. >> not one person in my family was told that there was a covid-positive cases in that facility. how [ bleep ] dare you. >> plus two senior communities changing their game for their residents during the pandemic. fighting against isolation and the virus itself. what their discoveries could mean for facilities nationwide. >> a special edition of "nightline," devil at the door, covid-19 in our nursing homes,

starts right now. >> good evening. thank you for joining us. with more than 3 million covid-19 cases and counting in the u.s., the question remains, how do we protect the most vulnerable. tonight a "nightline" investigation into one nursing home ravaged by the virus, looking at what went wrong and what we can learn. >> the whole box of pictures from my childhood. >> for dante, this box is a time capsule. transporting a son to the moments with his father he holds most sacred. >> i remember being a kid and saying, santa, you smell so much like my dad. you have the same exact shoes as my dad. i don't know how it's possible, but you do. and i could literally, to this day, hear his voice laughing and crying at the same time. because he recognized that i knew it was him, finally for the

first time. >> dante says joseph was often looking for a laugh. >> say hig, dante. >> hi, dante. >> my father did as much as he could to make me have a good life when i was a child. >> which is why years later as his father aged, dante says he and his siblings wanted to make sure he was well-cared for. why did you decide andover was the place for your dad? >> it was supposed to be temporary until we could get him somewhere else, and obviously, that didn't work out in due time. >> it's a choice that now haunts him, as it may be haunting thousands of families across the country. those left grieving. the death of at least 36,000 nursing home residents, 27% of the total covid-19 deaths in the country, and joseph was one of them. >> now to the staggering toll at

the nation's nursing homes. >> the outbreak is taking a toll on nursing homes. >> as the country continues to grapple with the virus and the uneasy period of reopening, experts fear some nursing homes may be technically vulnerable. >> they are set up for decades. >> some are emerging as cautionary tales, including the one joseph was at, andover, one and two in new jersey, where 80 residents and two employees have died from covid-19. a tragedy now raising questions on how well the facility was planning and prepared for an outbreak. >> when bodies are piling up, there's something wrong. >> and whether more oversight and action was needed by the state of new jersey. >> i don't feel that anybody's paying attention to these nursing homes and the same thing could happen again. >> with families now demanding answers. >> not one person in my family was told that there was a

covid-positive cases in that facility. >> it baffles me how so many people die at the hands of a place like andover and there's still people there. >> in some ways, the saga at andover may have began long before covid entered the halls. it is the largest long-term care facility in new jersey. >> the common perception has been for years that it's never been a great facility. it's always been loaded with problems. >> jennifer jean miller covered andover as a reporter for the new jersey herald. >> they already had citations, and they just really started to snowball as the pandemic got worse. >> what was your accept sense o place? >> once we able to go down and see him, it was beyond questionable if you will. >> just a month after the virus swept into the facility, a routine inspection by the federal agency that oversees nursing home facilities found

several cases of sub standard infection control practices, including cases where facility staff failed to wash their hands to prevent infection and use personal protective equipment. >> the break downs in protocol top to bottom is what caused the spread. >> daniel is representing two families. they allege they did not have adequate protection control and staffing and did not do enough to protect residents during the pandemic. >> they should have had the protocols in place so they only have themselves to blame. >> he points to a recent audit in march. and he says this may have allowed the virus to sweep through at an alarming rate. >> they didn't present the patients. the facilities had covid patients in with other non-covid patients. the employees weren't wearing protective equipment in the

rooms with covid patients and then went to rooms to patients without covid. >> i can speak for staff members that i have gotten to know through my reporting. and they're very caring people. >> miller says as more residents and staff contracted covid, the lack of protective equipment exacerbated the outbreak and more workers started calling out sick. >> there aren't enough of them, really, to take care of the needs of the residents. >> by easter weekend, the outbreak had spiralled and more residents were dying, forcing the staff to put out a call for help. >> i remember saturday, mid afternoon getting a call that they needed 20 body bags. >> the sheriff was one of the local officials who responded to the call. >> so individuals were being placed outside because there was no room in the facility to keep the bodies. >> as news of the body count spread, some say there was a lack of communication with families on the outside. >> we have not heard from her.

>> francesca says she became sick with worry about her grandmother when she heard the news about the deaths at the facility. >> i wanted to know. anybody would want to know. is she one of those bodies? >> she says desperation stemming from numerous unanswered calls drove her to post this video on social media in april that went viral. >> you have ignored us multiple times. >> i just wanted to bring awareness of what was going on over there and how angry and sad i was. >> the deaths that weekend would put the facility under the national spotlight. >> individuals deserve to be cared for with respect, compassion and dignity. >> leaving many wondering how things could have escalated so quickly. >> these two facilities are licensed by the state of new jersey. so the county was forwarding the complaints to the state, which also were being unanswered.

>> over the course of the outbreak at andover, county officials say they reached out to state officials more than 30 times to request help. and in a letter to the state they wrote they were, quote, deeply concerned that the state of new jersey is not doing enough to address this ongoing health crisis. >> when the crisis hits, go in, make a decision, see what has to be done and do it. don't sit around being a bureaucrat and say okay now we got to follow this procedure. >> michael is the mayor of andover township. he believes the state of new jersey should have acted sooner. >> i do think the state drop the ball in a huge way. they were directing the hospitals to not keep the patients there, to bring them back to the nursing home, thus bringing back possible covids and putting them back into the most vulnerable people that we have in our town. >> during this pandemic, states have really been responsible for trying to assist nursing homes to respond to the spread of the infection.

>> since the start of the pandemic, the sheriff's team has provided local nursing homes with protective equipment. from the beginning, most of the equipment was from donations from the community. >> it started getting out of control, and the media started getting involved. >> after the grim discovery made headlines, county officials requested that the state activate the national guard to help the facility with operations, which the state did in may. >> we would hope that the state of new jersey would go in, the health department and monitor, and see that procedures are put in place so there is proper ppe, that individuals get the treatment that they need. >> now, four months into the pandemic, he says his team has finally received the adequate ppe that they need to distribute. >> you're talking about thousands of masks, thousands of shields. most is going to the long-term care facilities that are

impacted most, which is andover, mainly. >> the new jersey state department of health told abc news, in addition to providing directives to nursing home facilities, they started monitoring andover, responding to complaints and providing ppe and staffing support as needed. but for families like this, it was too little too late. joseph passed away april 9. dante believes his father may have been one of the bodies discovered in the morgue. >> what do you think he was thinking in the end? >> unfortunately, i think he was a bit scared or more than a bit scared. >> has anyone from andover contacted you or your family, offered their condolences? >> never. no one has called. no. >> andover facility denied all allegation contained in a lawsuit and told abc news their staff worked around the clock and took steps to prepare and handle the crisis, including

separating sick patients and falling cdc guidelines. they say they reached out to government agencies for help dozens of times adding that they've made significant progress since the hart of the pandemic, taking steps to ensure safety and have not had a single covid resident since may 12. both andover buildings remain fully operational and are now along with several other nursing homes part of a state-wide investigation by the attorney general. the families are left with their regrets and grief as they prepare for a long legal fight. what do you wish you had a chance to say to your dad? >> probably a lot of things, you know, a lot of things i could do over. i wish i could have taken him out myself. if i only knew, things definitely would have been different. >> new jersey now says it's implementing reforms based on an independent review of long-term care facilities in the state. up next, how two senior communities may have found a

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great things often come from ingenuity, perhaps nothing greater than when it can help the most vulnerable. and for two senior communities, clever compassion for the residents may have done just that. >> oh, well, hello, hello! >> this is the first time mary has been able to reunite with her family in two months. >> hi, baby. >> do i get to touch you? >> yes. >> you're healthy. >> like some residents of senior living communities, mary and her husband were separated and placed in quarantine to keep them safe from covid-19. >> oh! >> but the measures meant to save their lives have been overwhelmingly isolating, keeping them away from their loved ones like their daughter katie nelson. >> can you imagine living in a

room that's maybe 200 square feet for two months? >> you can't come out! >> when you talk to them, you can hear like there was going to be a breaking point really, really soon. >> she was able to reunite with her husband and daughter because her facility came up with a simple but effective barrier to allow families to reconnect. >> how are you doing? you're looking good. i like the smile. you got a kiss for me? i love you. >> the rest of the world is opening up. i want to see my people so badly. and i know that the families do, too. but i would still rather wait. that will still be there to make sure that these people are safe. i mean, that's hard. >> communities for seniors have suffered some of the highest fatality rates in the nation. as the pandemic stretches on with no end in sight, they've had to turn to creative solutions to not only address residents' isolation and loneliness, but also keep them

maryland believes it may have a way to better protect residents. >> when i first heard of covid-19, i actually was home on a weekend. i got on the phone with the director of nurses. my gut feeling was, what was going on in china was just the tip of the iceberg. >> jennifer kelly directs the nursing services at layhill center. it did not quite escape the throes of the virus. >> one of our health care providers had come down with the covid-19. we quarantined that floor immediately. >> but the numbers have been comparatively small. with 123 residents, layhill has had 18 positive cases. seven succumbed, while most have fully recovered. a small comfort, considering that some of the hardest-hit nursing homes have had deaths in the double digits. >> layhill, they've been using our data since day one.

th'v numr it. >> shalone rhineman is part of mega data and partnered up to track data of their residents' vitals. >> what we found was that the oxygen level was in most cases was a better indicator than temperatures and symptoms, which seemed to be later-developing symptoms. >> and the facility says that data has been vital in saving lives. >> i thought i was a goner for sure. >> venus is one of the residents, mcandrews has an underlying condition and this alert system helped notice the covid-19 infection early. >> if they hadn't caught it when they did and got me the help that they did, i probably would have died, and that's the truth. they really saved my life by finding out so quick and sending me to the hospital. >> just being able to see the

subtle changes and the data that was being entered into the medical records and the doctors and the nurses wereer quicker. >> for all nursing homes, the fight against covid-19 had is far from over. but with new tools coming into play, the facilities may be better equipped for the long battle ahead. >> it's fantastic that we now have protocols that we know we can depend on and we know what that's going to look like, so i think the scariest part that is going to have to be a trust on the facility side and a trust on the family side. nobody else in the world is having this experience right now other than all of us. >> we'll be right back with a final note. artburn before it begins? heartburn happens when stomach acid refluxes into the esophagus. prilosec otc uses a unique delayed-release formula that helps it pass through the tough stomach acid.

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and finally tonight, nursing assistants and long-term care aides, some of the unsung heroes. that's "nightline" for this evening, we'll see you right

back here tomorrow, same time. thanks for the company, america, good night. >> dicky: from hollywood, it's "jimmy kimmel live" with guest host, billy eichner. tonight, amy schumer and jaime harrison. and now, billy eichner. >> hi, everyone i'm your guest host billy eichner and welcome to another night of

entertainment in our disease-ravaged, fascist state. bryan adams once sang "summer of '69" but this is the summer of n95. good evening, welcome to "jimmy kimmel live." now, if you don't know me maybe you're looking at the screen and thinking "did john krasinski have some type of terrible accident?" but no, i'm billy eichner. i'm here filling in for jimmy kimmel tonight because when i think about who deserves two months off from work it's definitely public school teachers and the man who won an emmy for producing a one night reboot of "the jeffersons." of course, i'm here in los angeles, where this weekend i'll be participating in that classic summertime activity: mitigating risk. it's a confusing time here in hollywood. tv and films are slowly ramping up as productions try to answer the age-old question, is it possible to entertain americans without giving a communicable respiratory disease to ken jeong? but i'm very excited to be hosting these next few nights. we have some truly incredible guests coming on and one that i cannot stand.