Colleagues of Kious Jordan Kelly, a New York City nurse manager who died of coronavirus-related complications Tuesday, said his death could have been prevented if he was provided proper protective gear.
“We lost a great fighter during this war,” Diana Torres, a co-worker of Kelly’s, said on Facebook.
Torres also posted a photo of co-workers tying bandannas over their faces instead of traditional personal protective equipment, or PPE.
“NO THIS IS NOT PROPER PPE,” she wrote.
Another coworker told the Times that they offered nurses one plastic protective gown for an entire shift, even though they would normally be required to change gowns between interactions with infected patients. Kelly reportedly had not used protective equipment, instead helping others obtain protective gear.
Earlier this week, photos of Mount Sinai Health System began circulating with nurses using trash bags as a form of PPE.
The news comes as hospitals around the country are reporting a lack of medical supplies, particularly N95 masks.
In a statement to The Hill, an official said the hospital system “always” provides “all our staff with the critically important” PPE “they need to do their job.”
Kelly reportedly didn’t want to alarm his family when he learned he had the virus March 18.
“I’m okay. Don’t tell Mom and Dad. They’ll worry,” he texted his sister, Marya Patrice Sherron, according to The New York Times.
“His death could have been prevented,” Sherron said on Facebook Wednesday.
Kelly did have asthma — one of the conditions health experts have said can make people vulnerable to the disease — but was otherwise healthy, his sister said. He was on a respirator before his death.
Sherron later posted: “I’m angry. He was healthy.”
The Mount Sinai Health System released a statement on Twitter on Wednesday night saying it was “deeply saddened by the passing of a beloved member of our nursing staff.”
“Today, we lost another hero — a compassionate colleague, friend and selfless caregiver,” the health system posted.