Times Watchdog | The Seattle Times

Family members wave to Chuck Sedlacek, 87, a Life Care Center of Kirkland patient who tested positive for COVID-19 on March 8, after his family pushed for it, said his son-in-law, Clancy Devery. (Ken Lambert / The Seattle Times)

Coronavirus spread at Life Care Center of Kirkland for weeks, while response stalled

Even after the outbreak was detected at Life Care Center of Kirkland, confusion over who was responsible for testing residents allowed the virus to keep spreading. Interviews with family members and 911 calls provide a look at how the tragedy unfolded. WATCH

Latest Stories

$150 for $7 sanitizer? Price gouging complaints pile up in Washington state amid coronavirus outbreak
‘Single point of failure’: The CDC’s past successes with an FDA process set the table for coronavirus testing debacle
Coronavirus call centers stumble in Washington state: glitches, lack of staff, contradicting messages
Short-staffed and undersupplied: Coronavirus crisis strains Seattle area’s capacity to deliver care
Seattle health care providers scramble to ration medical supplies as coronavirus cases climb
Family members of Kirkland nursing home residents decry response to coronavirus outbreak WATCH

Special Reports

Here, CH2M HILL workers are shown separating and pulling the highly contaminated glove boxes from the glove box connection point. Workers wear layers of personal protection equipment.

Photo date: 06.01.2013

Hanford workers were given leaky respirators at contaminated job site, contractor’s documents reveal WATCH

Lt. Aaron Wuitschick of the Yakima County Sheriffís Office pulls over a Yakama Nation member for speeding Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020, in White Swan, Wash. Lt. Wuitschick did not issue a ticket due to the Nationís jurisdiction over natives on both tribal and non-tribal land. (Amanda Ray / Yakima Herald-Republic)

Miles of highway aren’t patrolled by state troopers amid a crime wave on Yakama Reservation VIEW

A vehicle makes its way through the Olympic Game Farm in Sequim on Monday, March 11, 2019. The Game Farm is the subject of a lawsuit that alleges it does not properly care for its animals.

Behind a zoo built for animal actors, decades of concern and violations at Olympic Game Farm VIEW

(Jennifer Luxton / The Seattle Times)

In the Dark: A young mother and son slain. A surprising lead. A family’s 25-year wait for answers. VIEW

About Times Watchdog

Times Watchdog is a series of investigative reports promoting good government, bringing questionable practices to light and holding authorities and the powerful accountable to the public.

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UW 08/14/2014
A portrait of University of Washington junior Cassie Strickland CQ is taken Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2014 at Marv Harshman Court in Seattle.

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UW finds star athlete’s sexual assault allegation credible, but athletic executive quietly moved on

Collections industry lobbyist Kelsi Hamilton, center, speaks at a legislative committee meeting in Olympia regarding a debt collection bill. Bobbi Miller, a target of debt collectors, left, and Antonio Ginatta, policy director for Columbia legal services right, listen during a meeting which brought lobbyists from the industry and consumers into the same room to discuss the measure.

209609 209609

Debt collectors that ‘sue, sue, sue’ can squeeze Washington state consumers for more cash

Boeing pushed FAA to relax 737 MAX certification requirements for crew alerts

Bounty hunter Scott Gribble draws his firearm as he searches for fugitive hiding in a house,in Spokane, Wash. Monday, Feb. 1, 2016. (Young Kwak/Pacific Northwest Inlander) (Young Kwak/Pacific Northwest Inlander)

Bounty hunters have the right to force their way into your home — with little training and even less regulation WATCH

Boeing 737 MAX

Boeing pushed FAA to relax 737 MAX certification requirements for crew alerts | Times Watchdog

Public Crisis, Private Toll

Public Crisis, Private Toll: An investigation by The Seattle Times

Seattle Children's hospital

Still photo from a video distributed by Seattle Children’s showing one of their operating rooms which are closed again.

Seattle Children’s air monitoring didn’t detect mold until after patient’s infection, records show

Criminal justice

Stephanie Desparois poses for a portrait outside her home in La Center on Dec. 27, 2019. Desparois’ son, Rian Struckman, struggles to get the cancer treatment he needs from the Department of Corrections while in prison.

As the Washington Department of Corrections struggles with health care, cancer patients say they suffer

State and local politics

Democratic presidential candidate Washington Gov. Jay Inslee waves after speaking during a campaign event at the Unity Freedom Presidential Forum Friday, May 31, 2019, in Pasadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Gov. Jay Inslee’s frequent presidential campaign travel continues to cost Washington state taxpayers

Transportation

A. METRO bus heads East on East Madison toward Martin Luther King Jr. Way, where it will turn left, leading South. 212790

Seattle unprepared to deliver promised Madison bus line, expert review says

Education

UW 08/14/2014
A portrait of University of Washington junior Cassie Strickland CQ is taken Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2014 at Marv Harshman Court in Seattle.

142218 0431068644

UW finds star athlete’s sexual assault allegation credible, but athletic executive quietly moved on

Sports

Friday, May 20, 2016. The entrance to Bothell High School

‘Disturbing’ allegations about Bothell High football players, but no criminal charges

Project Homeless

When Seattle stores belongings taken during homeless cleanups, few get them back VIEW

Quantity of Care

Swedish surgeons were double-booked, and patients didn't know | Quantity of Care

Seismic Neglect

The downtown Seattle Skyline as seen from the top of the Space Needle.

Photographed on July 24, 2018. 207141 aerial 207141

What if the megaquake happens when you’re in a Seattle high-rise? New study predicts stronger shaking

The Mobile-Home Trap

Kirk and Patricia Ackley tell of their mobile home repossession, Wed., March. 4, 2015, in Ephrata.

The mobile-home trap: How a Warren Buffett empire preys on the poor | The Mobile-Home Trap, part 1

Oso landslide

Oso neighborhood never should have been built

More on Oso

Comprehensive coverage of the March 2014 disaster and recovery

Loaded with Lead

How gun ranges poison workers and shooters

More from the series

Reporters Christine Willmsen and Lewis Kamb discuss their investigation of lead contamination at shooting ranges

Tell us: When you shoot, how do you stay safe from lead?

Explore gun-range inspection data

Reddit ‘Ask Me Anything’ session: Willmsen and Kamb answer reader questions

More Headlines

Wed. March 25, 2020. Rob Williams at left is a commercial pilot based in Seattle. He became sick and got a battery of tests; including for COVID-19 that had different test results given him–negative and positive. His partner, Karl Watson at right has kept social distance from Rob in their 2-bedroom apartment for the last 13 days. 213447

March 30, 2020 at 6:00 am

Seattle pilot’s misdiagnosis highlights challenges around coronavirus testing

Rob Williams celebrated when he got the news his coronavirus test was negative. Then he got a shocking call a few days later, exposing a...

Local News

Dr. Ming Lin says he was terminated by PeaceHealth St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Bellingham for speaking out about its lack of preparedness for an influx of patients infected with Coronavirus.

Photographed Sunday, March 29, 2020. 213498

March 29, 2020 at 12:44 pm

Bellingham physician who decried lack of coronavirus protections is removed, sparking protest

The removal of a Bellingham doctor who raised concerns about a lack of protections for health-care workers should be investigated by the state attorney general...

Bill Evans, a Hanford worker disabled by seizures, talks about what he and his family have been through from his room at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle Friday, January 31, 2020. His wife Tiffany is at right. Evans is planning to stay in the hospital until he has a seizure. The sensors attached to his head will be able to locate the area of the part of the brain where the seizure occurs.

The couple has a three-year-old son and Tiffany has had to quit her job to take care of Bill because the seizures are so frequent. The couple is afraid they may lose their home.

Bill and other workers conducted a dangerous clean-up at Hanford at what a new memo details is a defective respirator that did not properly protect them from chemical and radioactive wastes. He is now medically disabled and suffering from all kinds of seizures – and has been since he had to leave job in 2016. 212748 212748

March 24, 2020 at 6:22 pm

In response to a Seattle Times investigation, advocates seek benefits for workers who wore leaky respirators at Hanford

Responding to a Seattle Times investigation, a federal advocacy group is pushing for federal disability payments for Hanford workers potentially sickened by faulty respirators.

Here, CH2M HILL workers are shown separating and pulling the highly contaminated glove boxes from the glove box connection point. Workers wear layers of personal protection equipment.

Photo date: 06.01.2013

March 22, 2020 at 6:00 am

Hanford workers were given leaky respirators at contaminated job site, contractor’s documents reveal WATCH

Bill Evans Jr. was one of some 560 workers who used flawed respiratory protection in the clean-up of Hanford’s Plutonium Finishing Plant. Did that safety...

A screenshot submitted as part of a complaint filed with the Washington State Attorney General’s Office against Bellevue company OfferUp, which allows people to sell items online, for allowing alleged coronavirus-related price gouging.

March 20, 2020 at 6:07 pm

$150 for $7 sanitizer? Price gouging complaints pile up in Washington state amid coronavirus outbreak

As the spread of the coronavirus strips store shelves of hand sanitizer and other products, opportunistic hustlers are selling the scarce and coveted items at...

Drive-thru tests for the new coronavirus will be available at the Spokane fairgrounds. (CDC via AP, File)

March 19, 2020 at 2:17 pm

‘Single point of failure’: The CDC’s past successes with an FDA process set the table for coronavirus testing debacle

In past public health emergencies, federal officials found success with a fast-track approval route to roll out test kits. This time, with COVID-19, that emergency...

Family wave to Life Care Center of Kirkland patient Chuck Sedlacek who has the coronavirus, during a visit Thursday, March 12, 2020 in Kirkland. 213323 213323 (Ken Lambert / The Seattle Times)

March 18, 2020 at 5:20 pm

Coronavirus spread at Life Care Center of Kirkland for weeks, while response stalled WATCH

Even after the outbreak was detected at Life Care Center of Kirkland, confusion over who was responsible for testing residents allowed the virus to keep...

Call center staff members, with the Washington Department of Health, answer calls at the DOH’s coronavirus public hotline call center in Tumwater Thursday, March 12, 2020. The center is open from 6 a.m. – 10 p.m. and staff members help the public with any questions they may have regarding the coronavirus. They receive from 1,000 – 1,200 calls per day.

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March 17, 2020 at 6:00 am

Coronavirus call centers stumble in Washington state: glitches, lack of staff, contradicting messages

As alarms about coronavirus spread in King County and statewide, call centers were overwhelmed, and contradictory information from health care providers sowed confusion.

An exam room is photographed at EvergreenHealth’s emergency department and critical care unit in Kirkland on Tuesday, March 10, 2020. 213299

March 12, 2020 at 8:06 pm

Short-staffed and undersupplied: Coronavirus crisis strains Seattle area’s capacity to deliver care

Now as cases of virus-stricken patients suffering from COVID-19 multiply, Seattle-area government and hospital officials are facing the real-life consequences of shortcomings they’ve documented on...

It’s been reported that Virginia Mason Hospital, 925 Seneca Street, is running short on supplies for protective masks and gowns when dealing with Coronavirus patients. 213257

March 6, 2020 at 8:52 pm

Seattle health care providers scramble to ration medical supplies as coronavirus cases climb

Several health care providers in the region say they are running low, or will run low, on protective medical supplies, such as masks, respirators and...

Local News

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