Updated
Dec 22, 2020
South Dakotaâs COVID-19 Surge Is Turning Nursing Homes Into A âBattle Zoneâ
The state lost a greater share of its nursing home residents to the coronavirus than any other state this fall.
Liz Essley Whyte
Center for Public Integrity
Illustration: HuffPost; Photo: Getty Images
On Oct. 9, an employee in the business office at Tieszen Memorial Home in Marion, South Dakota, tested positive for the coronavirus. She was sent home immediately, but three days later, a nursing aide and a housekeeper both tested positive.
Marion, a town of fewer than 1,000 residents, was experiencing a sharp uptick in cases â what scientists call community spread. It became more and more likely that the nursing homeâs employees had become infected while, for example, grocery shopping.
Introduction
On October 9, an employee in the business office at Tieszen Memorial Home in Marion, South Dakota, tested positive for the coronavirus. She was sent home immediately, but three days later, a nursing aide and a housekeeper both tested positive.
Marion, a town of fewer than 1,000 residents, was experiencing a sharp uptick in cases what scientists call community spread. It became more and more likely that the nursing home’s employees had become infected while, for example, grocery shopping.
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On October 16, COVID-19 killed its first Tieszen resident. At that point, about thirteen of the home’s 55 residents had tested positive.