diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 10111311d92a..62b35447f459 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 - [[PR 1172]](https://github.com/parthenon-hpc-lab/parthenon/pull/1172) Make parthenon manager robust against external MPI init and finalize calls
 
 ### Fixed (not changing behavior/API/variables/...)
+- [[PR 1217]](https://github.com/parthenon-hpc-lab/parthenon/pull/1217) Swarm comm debug fix
 - [[PR 1215]](https://github.com/parthenon-hpc-lab/parthenon/pull/1215) Fix issue with uninitialized input parameter block data
 - [[PR 1211]](https://github.com/parthenon-hpc-lab/parthenon/pull/1211) remove inline from WriteTaskGraph
 - [[PR 1188]](https://github.com/parthenon-hpc-lab/parthenon/pull/1188) Fix hdf5 output issue for metadata none variables, update test.
diff --git a/src/interface/swarm_comms.cpp b/src/interface/swarm_comms.cpp
index 054ded34fabb..4df9606b01e2 100644
--- a/src/interface/swarm_comms.cpp
+++ b/src/interface/swarm_comms.cpp
@@ -250,8 +250,8 @@ void Swarm::LoadBuffers_() {
           auto p_index = buffer_sorted(n).swarm_idx_;
           if (swarm_d.IsActive(p_index)) {
             const int m = buffer_sorted(n).sort_idx_;
-            const int bufid = neighbor_buffer_index(m);
             if (m >= 0) {
+              const int bufid = neighbor_buffer_index(m);
               const int bid = n - buffer_start[m];
               int buffer_index = bid * particle_size;
               swarm_d.MarkParticleForRemoval(p_index);