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Noem’s Contact Tracing App Not Adding Value to Coronavirus Fight

Can’t get people to take Trump’s wonder pills, can’t get people to download her app….

Evidently personal responsibility isn’t working for contact tracing in South Dakota. Governor Kristi Noem figured she could just wave a smartphone app at people and get everyone to trace potential coronavirus spread for her, but she overestimated public enthusiasm for putting government software on phones:

Contact tracers in South Dakota haven’t received any help yet from the state’s COVID-19 mobile app.

State Health Secretary Kim Malsam-Rysdon said over 18,000 South Dakotans have downloaded the app as of Monday, but none came down with a case of the coronavirus the app could trace.

“We have not had any individuals who had tested positive who had also enabled the CARE19 location services,” Malsam-Rysdon said. “So we are still waiting for that to happen” [Carter Woodiel, “Coronavirus Tracking App Hasn’t Helped South Dakota Yet,” KELO Radio, 2020.05.18].

Waiting for things to happen on their own—that’s the typical South Dakota Republican approach to governing.

6 Comments

  1. grudznick 2020-05-19 09:02

    What are you saying, Mr. H? Besides your usual gratuitous blaming, does this mean the government should pull the plug on this invasion of privacy or does this mean those 18,000 people responsible enough to run this phone device are also generally more responsible and don’t visit the bars at the zoo in Aberdeen?

    grudznick would like to think perhaps if people are thinking about their phone tracking them they are engaging in more responsible behaviors to avoid the covid bugs but I’m afraid this is just a big-brother tracking mechanism for the state to know where you are. I urge people to strongly consider pulling the plug on this.

  2. Debbo 2020-05-19 14:44

    This will provide an opportunity for positive tracing:

    SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — One of the first professional athletic sports to allow spectators to attend as states gradually lift restrictions imposed due to the coronavirus is known for its wild, dangerous action: bull riding.

    Professional Bull Riders has announced a new competition that will culminate in South Dakota on July 10-12 with live crowds. As people itch for a return to daily activity, it’s all a part of an effort by professional sports organizations around the world to give bored fans at least a taste of what once was.

    Organizers of the bull riding event said they would provide face coverings to fans, space seats 4 to 6 feet apart and control the flow of people in and out of the arena to accommodate social distancing.

  3. mike from iowa 2020-05-19 18:39

    I can trace covid deaths all day long without a special app.

    Deaths:
    93,511

    100k gets closer daily.

  4. jerry 2020-05-19 19:09

    93,511 known Killed in Action, think of those Missing in Action due to negligent or fudged reporting. Closing in on the total Killed in Action of World War Deuce. King Covid and Queen NOem sure have screwed the pooch on this preventable mess that they caused themselves.

  5. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2020-05-20 07:59

    I’m saying, Grudz, that Noem apparently has a hard time acting as a leader and motivating people to adopt the plans that she says are good for the public.

    I’m saying that a real leader in Pierre would propose more active and effective interventions, like hiring ten thousand unemployed South Dakotans to work in contact tracing and other public health jobs.

    Then again, maybe what I should be saying is that if no one with the app has gotten coronavirus, maybe the app is better than we thought. Maybe the app actually prevents coronavirus!

  6. grudznick 2020-05-20 21:49

    Mr. H, despite what you may purport to be saying, you actually wrote:

    Noem’s Contact Tracing App Not Adding Value to Coronavirus Fight

    grudznick first suggested this app might be preventing coronavirus, hence, adding value. In fact, I wrote:

    grudznick would like to think perhaps if people are thinking about their phone tracking them they are engaging in more responsible behaviors to avoid the covid bugs…

    grudznick once again bests you in the debates. This does enrage you, which is of course entertaining to many, but I feel bad about it sometimes. This is one of those rare times. I am sorry.

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