SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO.com) — Residents of long-term care facilities in South Dakota are suffering mental and physical declines due to isolation and sensory deprivation caused by visitation and mobility restrictions put in place to protect them from infection by the deadly coronavirus.
The loneliness and lack of social interaction are causing anguish for residents and their loved ones, and a recent effort to use federal aid money to implement testing or other measures to mitigate isolation has failed.
Anecdotal reports of the decline of residents of long-term care facilities have become commonplace in South Dakota and beyond. As the pandemic drags on, medical researchers are starting to drill in on the potential consequences of extreme isolation, which some studies have shown can have the same health risk for elderly people as smoking, heart disease or high blood pressure.
In the latest article published by South Dakota News Watch, available here, reporter Bart Pfankuch shows how the elderly and their families are suffering and how some facilities are trying to mitigate isolation.
