Out of sight, not out of mind

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Nora Loreto made the decision to  (google sheet) track (external link)  every COVID-19 death in residential care facilities across Canada.

She started the database because of a story from her podcast, Sandy and Nora Talk Politics, about how many people were dying in long-term care facilities.

“I had asked online, what big media organizations hada list of who’s dying where, and nothing. No one was doing this,” she said.

The process was long, and not always easy. Each province reported these deaths differently, meaning there was no consistent way to collect the information.

“Mostly I would go to public health units, so like Québec and Manitoba, every single night, they would tell you how many people had died,” Loreto said. “But in Alberta, you have to be present at the press conferences to be handed this information. And so I was at the whim of whether or not journalists that day posted it.”

Because there was no national database, and no consistent method of collecting provincial death numbers, Loreto spent time every night researching the information herself.

“I was up probably three hours a night at the height of the second wave. It was a lot. I mean, regularly, it’d be more like an hour and a half to two hours. Last summer it was only 20 minutes.”

Where Canada stands right now, Loreto has been spending around 45 minutes every night searching for this information.

Loreto’s research methods have also changed since the start of the pandemic.

“In the beginning, there was such little information that I was combing through media reports and obituaries to see if the family had said the person had died from COVID, and where they had been living the moment that they died,” Loreto said, “Eventually public health units started to actually publish this information...So I would just search through all of these kinds of documents. I’d have a rhythm, where I’d start with Manitoba and I’d work west, and then I’d go to Ontario, and then I’d do Québec.”

While maintaining this (unpaid) nightly job, Loreto continues to work  full days reporting for several news outlets, creating a podcast and writing her third book.

One would assume that a project of this calibre would be highlighted by  news organizations across the country, due to its consistent updates and the length of time it’s been around. But that hasn’t been the case.

The Soft Block

Loreto says she was blacklisted by mainstream media in 2018, right after the Humboldt Broncos bus crash. This was due to her making an observation that the support and media attention the crash received would have been less had the victims not been young white boys.

There was plenty of backlash directed towards Loreto , including many people calling for her termination from publications. Since then the mainstream media has distanced themselves from her and her work. 

This has included talking about her COVID-19 database. But that hasn’t stopped other journalists from using it.

“I’ve heard from journalists a lot, especially in the first six months, they would call me — not to interview me necessarily or ask me about something— and say, ‘your database is critical.’”

However, many journalists who have used Loreto’s database have not mentioned her name when citing the work.

“People have definitely used this [database] without credit, which is fine, which I don’t mind,” Loreto said. “What I do mind is the fact that I’m an unpaid freelance journalist who’s been blacklisted by the Canadian media establishment.”

Loreto said it would be appreciated if the journalists who use her work would at least mention the effort behind it.

“Alternative media has been as important, I would say, as the mainstream press covering this pandemic,” she said. “I don’t think they [mainstream media] appreciate what it means for Canada’s information ecosystem to be so reliant on these new, underfunded or sometimes completely unfunded journalists doing this work; because for whatever reason, they’re not able to work in the mainstream.”

But there is one person who has been a serious source of support. 

Giving Back

On May 11, 2021, a person by the name of Sam Tecle organized a gofundme (external link)  campaign in support of Loreto’s work. In the description of the fundraiser, it reads:

“Since the onset of the pandemic Nora Loreto has meticulously tracked deaths in Residential Care in Canada, by facility. Nora's work has made it possible for journalists across the country to compare and contrast between public and private facilities and has also made it possible for the public to know which companies own and operate these residential care facilities. Nora's work has been a compass for investigative journalists and the public, knowing where we might look deeper for systemic neglect of our most vulnerable.”

While it is now closed, the fundraiser made just over $30,000  with 753 donations. 

In a thank you (external link)  note to Tecle, and those who donated, Loreto wrote:

All of this is to say that when the GoFundMe caught fire, I was truly floored. I am floored still. I am literally on the floor as I write this. So this is my note to say thanks, from the deepest parts of my soul (or my soles?), for recognizing my work and compensating me for it. Thanks for your kind words too, your support, your commiseration and your generosity, both financially but also with your words — I can’t tell you how much I appreciate all of it. I’ve realized that I can’t thank you all individually, but feel free to be in touch if ever you thought I could help you with something.

While she says she is ready for a break, Loreto keeps updating and researching alongside those who don’t have a choice.

“I just think of all the personal care workers, the emergency room doctors and all the other folks that also probably would love to have a break, and that can’t,” she says. “And I really approached this work with the same kind of commitment and the same kind of dedication that I think it really deserves.”