ATLANTA - Heartbreaking news continues to rock a southwest Atlanta Assisted Living facility where 15 people have now died from the coronavirus
Dr. Gloria Bolds' husband tells FOX 5 his wife of nearly 59 years died Easter Sunday at an Atlanta hospital. Her death and the death of Ms. Dorothy McGirt who died from the same deadly virus on the same day, bring the total number of deaths to 15 at the facility on Research Center Drive.
"I thought she was going to beat this thing. She was a fighter...(sigh) I am sorry," her 91- year-old husband Clyde choked back tears as he talked to FOX 5.
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Another COVID-19 death at senior facility
A senior living facility in southwest Atlanta has another death from the coronavirus
The two Summerville natives married in 1961. Dr. Gloria Bolds, 87, was an educator who started her career as an English teacher and rose to Associate Superintendent of School for Prince George's County Public Schools in Maryland. The couple never had children, but always had each other. Mr. Bolds said he had never been away from his wife for such a long period of time until the virus hit the US.
"They told us, caregivers, we had to stop coming March 1 and she did not test positive for COVID-19 until March 16. They sent her to Piedmont Hospital for 12 days and that is where she died on Easter. I never got to see her through any of this, " her husband lamented.
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Dr. Bolds was a '56 graduate of Spelman College and was a Silver Star member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. and an active member of Cascade United Methodist Church.
The situation is fairly bleak at the upscale assisted living facility. The Fulton County Board of Health tells us 49 of the 61 residents tested positive for the deadly virus, One resident is hospitalized and 31 employees or 62 percent of the staff tested positive, five staffers are hospitalized.
At nearby Summerset Assisted Living Facility, the scenario is similar. Forty of the 67 residents are COVID-9 positive, two are hospitalized and 2 residents have died.
Meanwhile, Mr. Bolds says he doesn't blame the employees at Arbor Terrace, but he wishes the outcome could have been much different.
"They just did not know how to handle this mean animal and it is still not under control yet," Mr. Bolds concluded.
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