Daily Beast: “On Monday, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem buried her grandmother, who was among 13 to die over a two-week period at a top-rated nursing home swept by COVID-19. The 98-year-old grandmother, Aldys Arnold, is said by Noem’s office to have tested negative for the virus, though no cause of death was given. The other 12 of the 13 deaths between Nov. 14 and Nov. 28 at the Estelline Nursing Home are described by the administrator, Mike Ward, as ‘COVID-related.’ ‘All but one,’ Ward told The Daily Beast.”
“But one less is still a dozen COVID deaths in a short period in one small facility. The number makes clear the lunacy of Noem’s downplaying of the pandemic and her continued refusal to impose a statewide mask mandate. ‘I’ve always taken #COVID19 very seriously, but South Dakota trusted our citizens to exercise their personal responsibility to keep themselves and their loved-ones safe,’ Noem tweeted back in July. But the report from the Estelline Nursing Home, in a town of the same name, made clear that South Dakotans are anything but safe. Ward confirmed that along with the deaths, all but two of the surviving 38 residents and at least 16 of the staff had tested positive. The two most recent deaths were on Saturday and helped raise the statewide daily total to 54, a record for South Dakota, which has fewer than 1 million people.”