“By Randall Yip, Executive Editor
Members of the Japanese American community say regulators have stonewalled them for several years in their quest to get answers about the 115 COVID deaths at Kei Ai Los Angeles.
Calls for federal and local investigations have gone unanswered for several years since the cluster of deaths occurred between 2020 and 2022. Yet the office of District Attorney George Gascon filed criminal charges connected to the deaths of 13 residents and one employee at an upscale Beverly Hills nursing home. Kei-Ai Los Angeles is a skilled nursing facility with a history of caring for Japanese American seniors.
The numbers from the American Community Survey paint a stark contrast.
Kei-Ai Los Angeles is located in a zip code with an 18.1% poverty rate. Its population is a majority Hispanic zip code with 22 percent Asians and only 9 percent White.
The wealthier zip code is 77 percent White. Its average household income is $172,000- $67,000 more than the other zip code.
“You know, you have 13 or so people die at Silverado (Beverly Place). They are mainly White. They’re in a rich area. On the other side of town, Kei-Ai Los Angeles is in one of the poorest household income districts in Los Angeles. 115 people died and there was no investigation. So just based on the facts, you know, just the superficial facts, it’s racist. They should have investigated,” said David Monkawa of Save our Seniors Network to AsAmNews.
The District Attorney’s office failed to respond to our request for comment other than to acknowledge it received the request. The courts eventually dismissed the DA’s case against Silverado Beverly Place.
A five-month investigation by AsAmNews found regulators at the state, federal and local level cited Kei-Ai Los Angeles for repeated COVID-related violations. Most of them accused Kei-Ai LA of improper use of personal protection equipment by staff and failure to designate a separate break room for workers assigned to COVID patients. Two doctors with patients at Kei-Ai described a breakdown in COVID protocols there.”