Thread by @Ajzionts

South Dakota's political leadership says they are pro-life. The state lost a greater share of its nursing home residents to the coronavirus than any other state this fall.

huffpost.com/entry/south-da…

Noting this because it’s significant that we’ve had the worst nursing home COVID-19 death rate in a state that bills itself as pro-life.

From the @l_e_whyte, the reporter who wrote this story:

https://twitter.com/l_e_whyte/status/1341842365569507329

Here’s how the Noem admin, which has billed itself as transparent, responded to questions about nursing home COVID-19 deaths. It appears her admin gave orders for agencies not to speak+have instilled fear in others from speaking out.

Experts in this article explain that no matter how much infection control nursing homes do, they are impacted by external community spread, how people behave outside. SD did not do any mandate+Noem didn’t model CDC advice like avoiding travel+wearing masks in crowded indoor areas

While outside practices are more influential, SD nursing homes still struggled on the inside:
➡️ Funding was available late+had strict guidelines
➡️ Nursing homes struggled with PPE supply. Their nurse+aid shortages were much higher than the national rate.

Steps SD did take:
➡️ Regular infection control inspections.
➡️ Recruited retired nurses+doctors to help work in healthcare settings. ➡️ DOH was helpful to nursing home staff.

Also the feds sent a “strike team” in October to help nursing homes tackle the virus.

Why didn’t a SD reporter write this story? We have low staffing. To my knowledge there are no reporters dedicated to healthcare except @jayfug who has an even more focussed beat+covers regional issues too. Reporters covering COVID-19 are swamped with daily stories+local features.

.@JackieHendrySD covers healthcare but also education.

In a well-funded media environment each outlet would have a dedicated healthcare reporter to report on the many important issues in our state.

Topics to cover before the pandemic: Multiple IHS+VA facilities, innovation+growth at major healthcare companies, the state mental health hospital, prison healthcare, physical access + affordability, insurance affordability, the lack of Medicaid expansion, rural access ...

Nursing shortages, traveling nurses, telehealth, home health care, lack of mental health care and long wait times, telehealth and nursing home ratings, funding and shortages.

Nursing home coverage from @NickSabatoMDR in Mitchell:

Here:

https://twitter.com/nicksabatomdr/status/1337522603448217600?s=21

And here:

https://twitter.com/nicksabatomdr/status/1335222393355243522

Stories about Rapid City nursing homes being hit early in the pandemic.

By me: rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/rap…

And @bymorganmatzen: rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/sta…

To clarify, reporters have been covering what’s going on in nursing homes. But the story I posted is a big in-depth look that takes much more planning and time. Reporters here do stories like that but we have less capacity to do so than when staffing was at an appropriate level.