Seattle photographer Ted Warren and reporter Gene Johnson gained the trust of family members at a Seattle-area nursing home where more than two dozen residents have died from COVID-19. The end result was a gripping story of the fear and isolation in the facility that underscored the devastation the virus can cause.
The Life Care Center in Kirkland, Washington, has emerged as the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States. At least 35 coronavirus deaths have been linked to the facility, and more than half of those inside have tested positive, leaving the remaining residents in a sort of purgatory that has anguished their relatives.
Warren’s efforts since the outbreak hit the Seattle area have been inexhaustible. He’s rushed from a government-run “quarantine hotel” to a drive-through testing facility and shot exclusive images of the first U.S. patients in a vaccine trial. In between, he’s made haunting images of empty bars, store shelves and Seattle landmarks like the Space Needle.
Steve Sedlacek, right looks at his father, Chuck Sedlacek, bottom center, through a window at Life Care Center in Kirkland, Wash., near Seattle, March 12, 2020. Steve’s brother, Scott Sedlacek, visited his dad – who contracted coronavirus – four times before Life Care was locked down to visitors on Feb. 29. No one inside was even wearing face masks, Scott said.
AP Photo / Ted Warren
Scott Sedlacek poses for a photo while holding a picture of his father Chuck, outside Life Care Center in Kirkland, Wash., near Seattle, March 12, 2020. Chuck Sedlacek arrived at the long-term care center for physical therapy, just before the suburban nursing home became the center of the nation’s worst coronavirus outbreak. He was placed in isolation after contracting the virus. His family describes him as more of an “inmate” than a patient.
AP Photo / Ted Warren
Scott Sedlacek poses for a photo while holding a photo of his father, Chuck, outside Life Care Center in Kirkland, Wash., near Seattle, March 12, 2020.
AP Photo / Ted Warren
A cleaning service worker has her respirator mask sprayed before a break from cleaning inside the Life Care Center in Kirkland, Wash., near Seattle, March 12, 2020.
AP Photo / Ted Warren
Cleaning service workers exit the Life Care Center in Kirkland, Wash., as they take a break from their work cleaning inside the long-term care facility near Seattle, Thursday, March 12, 2020.
AP Photo / Ted Warren
A cleaning service worker has his respirator mask sprayed down after working all day cleaning inside the Life Care Center in Kirkland, Wash., near Seattle, March 12, 2020.
AP Photo / Ted Warren
Tim Killian, a spokesman for the Life Care Center in Kirkland, Wash., prepares to give his daily briefing to reporters, Wednesday, March 11, 2020.
AP Photo / Ted Warren
Spokesman Tim Killian, right, gives his daily briefing outside the Life Care Center, the nursing home at the center of the coronavirus outbreak in Washington state, in Kirkland, Wash., March 11, 2020.
AP Photo / Ted Warren
Scott Sedlacek, right, who tested positive for coronavirus, wears a mask as he stands near reporters during a spokesman’s daily press briefing outside the Life Care Center in Kirkland, Wash., March 11, 2020. during a daily press briefing. Sedlacek's father, Chuck, who also tested positive, lives in the facility, which has been at the center of the coronavirus outbreak in the state.
AP Photo / Ted Warren
Scott Sedlacek becomes animated as talks to reporters outside Life Care Center in Kirkland, Wash., near Seattle, March 12, 2020. The facility has been at the center of the coronavirus outbreak in the state, and Sedlacek — who has tested positive for the virus — said he and his siblings have barely spoken to their father, a patient who has tested positive inside the center.
AP Photo / Ted Warren
A person is loaded into an ambulance, Thursday, March 12, 2020, at the Life Care Center in Kirkland, Wash., near Seattle.
AP Photo / Ted Warren
A nurse works in the room of Chuck Sedlacek — who has tested positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus — as seen through the window of his room at Life Care Center in Kirkland, Wash., Friday, March 13, 2020.
AP Photo / Ted Warren
A nurse wearing a mask walks past the room of Chuck Sedlacek — who has tested positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus — as seen through the window of his room at Life Care Center in Kirkland, Wash., Friday, March 13, 2020.
AP Photo / Ted Warren
Family members of Chuck Sedlacek wave and greet him through reflections in the window of his room at Life Care Center in Kirkland, Wash., near Seattle, March 12, 2020. Sedlacek’s son Scott said the family has barely spoken to their father since the facility at the center of the state’s coronavirus outbreak was locked down.
AP Photo / Ted Warren
Scott Sedlacek, left, who has tested positive for the coronavirus, wears a mask as he stands with his brother Steve outside the Life Care Center in Kirkland, Wash., March 11, 2020. Their father Chuck, who also has tested positive, lives in the facility, which has been at the center of the coronavirus outbreak in the state.
AP Photo / Ted Warren
But much of his time over the past two-plus weeks has been spent outside Life Care, where he has documented in heartrending photos how people have tried to communicate with mothers, fathers and loved ones through windows because they are no longer allowed inside. While Seattle reporter Gene Johnson was self-quarantined and working from home due to his daughter’s fever (she’s fine), Warren found an ideal subject for conveying this desperation in the story of 86-year-old Chuck Sedlacek.
Sedlacek arrived at Life Care for physical therapy in mid-February – just in time for the outbreak. He contracted the coronavirus and likely passed it to his son, Scott, before the nursing home restricted visitors. The nursing home has since been blanketed by news cameras, making it difficult to break new ground, but after Scott Sedlacek spoke with Warren and a few local TV news cameras, Warren got his number. He passed it along to Johnson, who fleshed out the family’s sad tale in a series of phone interviews. The resulting story compellingly detailed the isolation and anguish faced by nursing home residents and their families when the coronavirus gets inside – a feeling of helplessness many more are likely to experience as the disease spreads across the country.
“He’s an inmate as much as he is a patient,” said Scott Sedlacek. “We all love and really care about our dad, and we are absolutely scared. Loneliness kills a lot of people, too. We think this is a license for death.”
Warren’s perseverance didn’t end there, though: He stayed late at the facility, scoring indelible photos of a nurse tending to Chuck Sedlacek in his room.
The text, photo and video package showed how trying the COVID-19 situation is, and will continue to be, for the foreseeable future. Executive Editor Sally Buzbee wrote Ted and Gene: “A really important and terribly sad and stressful story.” Added Managing Editor Brian Carovillano: “I have looked at Ted’s window images so many times these past few days to remind myself of what this is all about. This story harnesses that same power in a different format. Beautiful work.”
For compelling work that conveys the frustration and despair of families coping with the coronavirus at a facility in the glare of the media spotlight, Warren and Johnson earn this week’s Best of the States award.