https://news.yahoo.com/kristi-noem-grandmother-died-nursing-095004608.html
The Daily Beast
Michael Daly
Tue, December 1, 2020, 4:50 AM EST
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.
[Anyone who "trusted our citizens to exercise their personal responsibility to keep themselves and their loved-ones safe" shows they are too out of touch with reality to be competent to be a governor.]
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.
.....
Noem here made clear she is intimately acquainted with personal loss. But as of Monday night, Noem had not tweeted a word about the 12 who had died along with Arnold during that fearful fortnight.
For Noem to have mentioned the dozen other dead would have raised the specter of the virus that killed them even as she was continuing to claim that she had brought it under control by invoking personal responsibility rather than mandating a vital precaution—a face mask—that is as simple and unimposing as wearing a seatbelt.
Michael Daly
Tue, December 1, 2020, 4:50 AM EST·6 min read
Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Photos via Facebook
Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Photos via Facebook
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.
Noem remained fixated on livelihoods rather than lives and chose to tweet that day about the importance of supporting small businesses by shopping.
None of this is to say that Noem is at all cold-blooded when the lives include one of her own clan. She tweeted a moving tribute to Arnold on Nov. 22.
“We lost my grandma today but she is finally where she has wanted to be for quite some time… with Jesus. And grandpa and my dad and Ryan… and so many loved ones… I remember when my dad died, she said to me with tears rolling down her cheeks, ‘children should never die before their parents’... I had never seen my grandma cry before.”
Noem’s father, Aldys Arnold’s son, was killed in a 1994 accident involving farm machinery. Ryan Arnold, Aldys’ grandson and Noem’s cousin, died in 2010 of surgical complications after donating part of his liver to his brother.
“She was the toughest woman I have ever known,” Noem tweeted. “She spoke plainly, but full of wisdom. She could outwork any man and did so on a regular basis. She was honest... (we all have funny stories of when she was maybe a little TOO honest). And she left our family a legacy of faith and love for the Lord. We love you grandma. Thank you for the honor of being your granddaughter.”
Noem here made clear she is intimately acquainted with personal loss. But as of Monday night, Noem had not tweeted a word about the 12 who had died along with Arnold during that fearful fortnight.
For Noem to have mentioned the dozen other dead would have raised the specter of the virus that killed them even as she was continuing to claim that she had brought it under control by invoking personal responsibility rather than mandating a vital precaution—a face mask—that is as simple and unimposing as wearing a seatbelt.
Noem Ditches COVID Crisis at Home for D.C. Meetings With Lame-Duck Trumpers
And nobody could rightly blame the nursing home itself for failing to protect its residents as best it could. State and federal inspectors had consistently given the home their highest ratings, and its record is unblemished by so much as a single serious violation.
The family of one of the dead, 90-year-old Ardyce Apland, described Estelline to The Daily Beast as “excellent,” reporting that the home took extensive precautions against COVID-19 long before anybody there tested positive. Apland’s son-in-law, David Herrold, said visitors were required to wear masks and met with a resident in a separate room partitioned by Plexiglas and plastic sheeting.
.....
And on a day when Noem was both burying her grandmother and celebrating her 49th birthday, her office was asked if she had anything to say about the dozen other dead.
She said nothing at all.
[One of the differences found between conservatives and liberals is that conservatives have a much smaller circle of those they see as part of their tribe, and have empathy toward.]
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