Letitia Stein
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Articles by Letitia Stein
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This nursing home chain stood out for nationally high death rates as pandemic peaked
*** Martha Miles, one of the first to die, gasped for air. She pressed her nursing home call buzzer but got no help. Ed Windholtz, Imelda Balbach, Byron Eggemeyer – farmer, nurse, engineer – died hundreds of miles apart within the span of a week in seemingly isolated COVID-19 outbreaks. The deaths across a scattering of Midwestern nursing homes began surging around Thanksgiving. In the span of a week, the count of the dead nearly tripled in Michigan.
USA TODAY broadens access to report card rating COVID outcomes at nursing homes during surge Original
As the United States surpasses 1 million COVID-19 deaths since the pandemic began, USA TODAY is opening up access to a report card of infections and deaths in nursing homes during the worst of the pandemic. Originally only accessible to subscribers, the tool allows users to scrutinize the nation’s 15,000 nursing homes by their performance as the largest surge of COVID infections swept through those facilities during a five-month period starting in October 2020.
A USA TODAY investigation exposes nursing home failures during COVID
COVID-19 marched into almost every nursing home in America during last winter’s surge, when 71,000 residents died – the most of any wave of the pandemic. Still, at nearly one-third of the nursing homes reporting outbreaks, no one died. Which facilities fared better or worse, and why? USA TODAY reporters spent a year seeking answers in the data and the documents, in interviews with industry experts, government overseers, nursing home workers and families of the dead.
A USA TODAY investigation exposes nursing home failures during COVID
COVID-19 marched into almost every nursing home in America during last winter’s surge, when 71,000 residents died – the most of any wave of the pandemic. Still, at nearly one-third of the nursing homes reporting outbreaks, no one died. Which facilities fared better or worse, and why? USA TODAY reporters spent a year seeking answers in the data and the documents, in interviews with industry experts, government overseers, nursing home workers and families of the dead.
A USA TODAY investigation exposes nursing home failures during COVID
COVID-19 marched into almost every nursing home in America during last winter’s surge, when 71,000 residents died – the most of any wave of the pandemic. Still, at nearly one-third of the nursing homes reporting outbreaks, no one died. Which facilities fared better or worse, and why? USA TODAY reporters spent a year seeking answers in the data and the documents, in interviews with industry experts, government overseers, nursing home workers and families of the dead.
4 key things to know about USA TODAY’s investigation into nursing home failures during COVID-19 Original
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Deaths across a scattering of Midwestern nursing homes began surging around Thanksgiving. By Valentine’s Day last winter, the death toll had climbed into the hundreds. A USA TODAY investigation has traced the casualties back to one nursing home chain, Trilogy Health Services, owned by a real estate venture with a new business plan for the cutthroat world of eldercare.
By Letitia Stein Verified, Jayme Fraser Verified, Nick Penzenstadler Verified, Jeff Kelly Lowenstein
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USA Today
Verified
4 key things to know about USA TODAY’s investigation into nursing home failure during COVID-19
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Deaths across a scattering of Midwestern nursing homes began surging around Thanksgiving. By Valentine’s Day last winter, the death toll had climbed into the hundreds. A USA TODAY investigation has traced the casualties back to one nursing home chain, Trilogy Health Services, owned by a real estate venture with a new business plan for the cutthroat world of elder care.
By Letitia Stein Verified, Jayme Fraser Verified, Nick Penzenstadler Verified, Jeff Kelly Lowenstein
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Yahoo News
Verified
This nursing home chain stood out for nationally high death rates as pandemic peaked
*** Martha Miles, one of the first to die, gasped for air. She pressed her nursing home call buzzer but got no help. Ed Windholtz, Imelda Balbach, Byron Eggemeyer – farmer, nurse, engineer – died hundreds of miles apart within the span of a week in seemingly isolated COVID-19 outbreaks. The deaths across a scattering of Midwestern nursing homes began surging around Thanksgiving. In the span of a week, the count of the dead nearly tripled in Michigan.
This Nursing Home Chain Stood Out for Nationally High Death Rates as Pandemic Peaked
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By Letitia Stein, Jayme Fraser and Nick Penzenstadler, USA TODAY, with Jeff Kelly Lowenstein Martha Miles, one of the first to die, gasped for air. She pressed her nursing home call buzzer but got no help. Ed Windholtz, Imelda Balbach, Byron Eggemeyer – farmer, nurse, engineer – died hundreds of miles apart within the span of a week in seemingly isolated COVID-19 outbreaks. The deaths across a scattering of Midwestern nursing homes began surging around Thanksgiving.
By Jeff Kelly Lowenstein, Letitia Stein Verified, Jayme Fraser Verified, Nick Penzenstadler Verified
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Economic Hardship Reporting Project
A USA TODAY investigation exposes nursing home failures during COVID Original
COVID-19 marched into almost every nursing home in America during last winter’s surge, when 71,000 residents died – the most of any wave of the pandemic. Still, at nearly one-third of the nursing homes reporting outbreaks, no one died. Which facilities fared better or worse, and why? USA TODAY reporters spent a year seeking answers in the data and the documents, in interviews with industry experts, government overseers, nursing home workers and families of the dead.
Official count of coronavirus toll in nursing homes likely missed 16,000 deaths; 68,000 cases
Government counts of the devastation from coronavirus among the most vulnerable elderly likely missed more than 16,000 COVID-19 deaths in U.S. nursing homes during the early months of the pandemic, an academic study published today has found. The missing deaths add up to 14% of what researchers estimate to be the true death toll in nursing homes for all of last year, according to the analysis in JAMA Network Open, a peer-reviewed publication of the American Medical Association.
Official count of coronavirus toll in nursing homes likely missed 16,000 deaths; 68,000 cases Original
Government counts of the devastation from coronavirus among the most vulnerable elderly likely missed more than 16,000 COVID-19 deaths in U.S. nursing homes during the early months of the pandemic, an academic study published today has found. The missing deaths add up to 14 percent of what researchers estimate to be the true death toll in nursing homes for all of last year, according to the analysis in JAMA Network Open, a peer-reviewed publication of the American Medical Association.
Hazardous goods found for sale after consumer protection inspectors were pulled from ports during COVID-19
The government’s consumer watchdog agency has discovered widely ranging hazards among toys and other products now for sale after it secretly stopped routine inspections of imports during the pandemic. But the Consumer Product Safety Commission still has not answered basic questions from lawmakers about the risks to consumers from its decision to send its port inspectors home for nearly six months, a safety lapse first exposed by USA TODAY.
'Just cruel at this point:' Nursing homes pushed to reopen for visits, hugs after Covid vaccine
A Missouri man worried about his mother’s weight loss after she spent a year in a nursing home under COVID lockdown without his daily peanut butter shakes. In Florida, a devoted husband celebrated his final wedding anniversary on opposite sides of his wife’s nursing home window. A woman in the Bronx, New York blamed her recent mild heart attack on stressful months of separation from her mother. Start the day smarter. Get all the news you need in your inbox each morning.
Congress adds $50 million for safety checks on toys, imports after USA TODAY exposed COVID-19 lapses
© Marcio Jose Sanchez, AP A cargo ship is docked at the Port of Los Angeles, in Los Angeles on June 19, 2019. Congress has set aside $50 million to protect Americans from dangerous and deadly products, bolstering a new mandate for stronger surveillance of the nation’s ports following a USA TODAY investigation that exposed major safety lapses during the pandemic.
House pushes $50 million to protect consumers from dangerous imports after USA TODAY investigative report
© MARK RALSTON, AFP/Getty Images (FILES) In this file photo taken on September 29, 2018 the US flag flies over Chinese shipping containers that were unloaded at the Port of Long Beach, in Los Angeles County.
House pushes $50 million to protect consumers from dangerous imports after USA TODAY investigative report
The U.S. House of Representatives aims to set aside $50 million for increased safety screenings of toys and consumer products at U.S. ports after a USA TODAY investigation exposed a plunge in inspections for hazards such as lead and choking dangers during the pandemic. The spending proposal passed on Friday by the House Energy and Commerce Committee is a significant cash infusion for the Consumer Product Safety Commission, whose annual budget last year was $133 million.
A Painful Mosquito-Borne Virus Has Arrived In The US
CDC The first two locally acquired cases of a painful mosquito-borne viral illness, chikungunya, have been reported in Florida, the health officials confirmed on Thursday. One case was reported in Miami Dade County and the other in Palm Beach County. The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention is working closely with the Florida Department of Health to determine how the patients contracted the virus, officials announced.
Feds explore whether Latino immigrants to blame for coronavirus flare-ups
Top federal officials are privately exploring whether Latinos are to blame for regional spikes in new coronavirus cases, asking in internal communications if Mexicans could be carrying the disease across the border, fueling domestic outbreaks.
'It is a slaughter': Public health champion asks CDC director to expose White House, orchestrate his own firing
A former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and public health titan who led the eradication of smallpox asked the embattled, current CDC leader to expose the failed U.S. response to the coronavirus, calling on him to orchestrate his own firing to protest White House interference.
Congress passes law to protect kids from deadly toys after USA TODAY investigative report
Congress is demanding the federal government increase inspections of toys and consumer products entering U.S. ports and assess what hazards may have slipped in during a safety lapse kept quiet during the pandemic. The provision, contained in the bill carrying pandemic relief for Americans that passed late Monday, follows a USA TODAY investigation that found the Consumer Product Safety Commission pulled its port investigators for nearly half of 2020 over the threat of COVID-19 exposure.
Are your kids' Christmas gifts safe? Toys at risk for lead, poison after US stopped inspections amid COVID-19
The federal safety inspectors who protect kids from dangerous and deadly toys were not standing guard for nearly six months while this year’s holiday gifts entered the U.S. by the shipload. Princess palaces and playhouses, water guns and tricycles landed on store shelves and front doorsteps without the usual security checks for lead, chemicals or choking hazards. Government leaders had secretly sent home the nation’s toy police.
Are your kids' Christmas gifts safe? Toys at risk for lead, poison after US stopped inspections amid COVID-19
The federal safety inspectors who protect kids from dangerous and deadly toys were not standing guard for nearly six months while this year’s holiday gifts entered the U.S. by the shipload. Princess palaces and playhouses, water guns and tricycles landed on store shelves and front doorsteps without the usual security checks for lead, chemicals or choking hazards. Government leaders had secretly sent home the nation’s toy police.
Are your kids' Christmas gifts safe? Toys at risk for lead, poison after US stopped inspections amid COVID-19
The federal safety inspectors who protect kids from dangerous and deadly toys were not standing guard for nearly six months while this year’s holiday gifts entered the U.S. by the shipload. Princess palaces and playhouses, water guns and tricycles landed on store shelves and front doorsteps without the usual security checks for lead, chemicals or choking hazards. Government leaders had secretly sent home the nation’s toy police.
Are your kids' Christmas gifts safe? Toys at risk for lead, poison after US stopped inspections amid COVID-19
The federal safety inspectors who protect kids from dangerous and deadly toys were not standing guard for nearly six months while this year’s holiday gifts entered the U.S. by the shipload. Princess palaces and playhouses, water guns and tricycles landed on store shelves and front doorsteps without the usual security checks for lead, chemicals or choking hazards. Government leaders had secretly sent home the nation’s toy police.
Documenting COVID-19
Any use of documents downloaded from this site must attribute the "Documenting COVID-19 project at The Brown Institute for Media Innovation." Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) The information on this site is available for use with attribution under a Creative Commons license, Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0), with two additional disclaimers described below. Please read through and click accept before accessing Documenting COVID-19.
The CDC chief lost his way during COVID-19. Now his agency is in the balance. Original
Dr. Robert Redfield, eyes closed and searching for words, explained to Congress why the health agency he leads had softened coronavirus protections for slaughterhouse workers. The White House, meatpacking industry and other federal agencies were not involved, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention insisted during the September hearing. None of that was true.
'It is a slaughter': Infectious disease icon asks CDC director to expose White House, orchestrate his own firing
A former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and public health titan who led the eradication of smallpox asked the embattled, current CDC leader to expose the failed U.S. response to the new coronavirus, calling on him to orchestrate his own firing to protest White House interference.
'It is a slaughter': Public health champion asks CDC director to expose White House, orchestrate his own firing
A former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and public health titan who led the eradication of smallpox asked the embattled, current CDC leader to expose the failed U.S. response to the coronavirus, calling on him to orchestrate his own firing to protest White House interference.
White House rebuffed CDC offer to lead contact tracing investigation of Trump outbreak Original
The White House rejected on Monday an offer from the nation’s public health experts to lead the effort to track down and notify Americans who were exposed to a growing coronavirus outbreak linked to President Donald Trump and several top aides.
How CDC failed local public health officials fighting coronavirus
By Brett Murphy, and Letitia Stein, USA TODAY Sunday Sep 20, 2020 at 10:01 AM The week America lost the fight against the new coronavirus, the nation’s premier health agency promised local officials it had the virus under control. It was the third week in February. And senior leaders at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention repeatedly brushed off calls to take COVID-19 more seriously.
How the CDC failed public health officials fighting the coronavirus
© Pool, Getty Images WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 2: CDC Director Dr. Robert R. Redfield looks on while testifying at a Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee hearing on manufacturing a Coronavirus vaccine on Capitol Hill on July 2, 2020 in Washington, DC.
When COVID testing was scarce, CDC director called in favor to help Nevada GOP leader
Dr. Robert Redfield called Nevada’s chief medical officer on a Saturday night in early March with an extraordinary request. Adam Laxalt, the former attorney general of Nevada until 2019 and booster for President Donald Trump, believed he was exposed to the coronavirus while attending the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland. But Laxalt was not showing symptoms and could not get approved for a test through a local hospital back home.
How the CDC failed public health officials fighting the coronavirus Original
The week America lost the fight against the new coronavirus, the nation’s premier health agency promised local officials it had the virus under control. It was the third week in February. Senior leaders at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention repeatedly brushed off calls to take COVID-19 more seriously. They dismissed concerns from Minnesota to Hawaii that their plan to contain the outbreak by screening overseas travelers was riddled with inconsistencies.
How the CDC failed public health officials fighting the coronavirus
The week America lost the fight against the new coronavirus, the nation’s premier health agency promised local officials it had the virus under control. It was the third week in February. Senior leaders at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention repeatedly brushed off calls to take COVID-19 more seriously. They dismissed concerns from Minnesota to Hawaii that their plan to contain the outbreak by screening overseas travelers was riddled with inconsistencies.
Trump attacks CDC scientists over COVID-19 school reopening guidelines Original
President Donald Trump’s attack on his own health experts’ guidance for safely reopening schools cracked open for public display a power struggle within the administration that has been building for months.
Feds explore whether Latino immigrants to blame for coronavirus flare-ups Original
Top federal officials are privately exploring whether Latinos are to blame for regional spikes in new coronavirus cases, asking in internal communications if Mexicans could be carrying the disease across the border, fueling domestic outbreaks.
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