According to the Harvard Global Health Institute, South Dakota is one of four states where coronavirus is spreading so quickly that a statewide lockdown is justified.
The HGHI defines four covid-19 risk levels based on the number of daily new cases per 100,000 people:
| Risk Level | Description | New Daily Cases per 100K pop. | Recommended Actions |
| Green | on track for containment | <1 | Monitor with viral testing and contact tracing |
| Yellow | community spread | 1–9 | Rigorous test and trace programs advised |
| Orange | accelerated spread | 10–24 | stay-at-home orders and/or test and trace programs advised |
| Red | tipping point | ≥25 | Stay-at-home orders necessary |
At the end of June, South Dakota was one of 34 states in HGHI’s Yellow category. Florida and Arizona were the only states ablaze in coronavirus red; at that time, Florida towns were starting to restrict crowds at businesses and beaches and require masks, and Governor Ron DeSantis reimposed a ban on on-site alcohol consumption. Arizona Governor Doug Ducey stopped issuing special-event alcohol licenses; shut down bars, gyms, theaters, and water parks; and capped crowds at swimming polls at 10 and public gatherings at 50.
Two months later, Florida is at orange, while Arizona is at yellow. South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, and Alabama are at red:
27 out of 66 South Dakota counties, including the cities of Sioux Falls, Rapid City, Aberdeen, Brookings, Watertown, Yankton, Huron, and Spearfish (i.e., a majority of South Dakota’s population) are in the coronavirus red:
Remember what the Imperial College Covid-19 Response Team said back in March, about how if we wanted to save two million lives in the U.S., we had to be prepared to go through a series of rolling shutdowns, restricting our face-to-face school activity and social outings to occasional kinda-all-clear periods for a couple years until we all get Dr. Fauci’s Wonder Shots? That’s not a pleasant way to live, but it is a way for more people to live, get back to normal life sooner, and avoid the far greater human and economic devastation of unmitigated coronavirus spread and long-term health impacts on a far wider segment of the population.
South Dakota, it’s time to stay home again. Let’s take a couple weeks off. Close the schools, close the bars, work from home.
what needs to be done and what Trumpster Kristi Noem will do are two different things.
On most issues, what South Dakota needs and what Kristi Noem wants differ greatly.
Likewise America’s needs and Trump’s wants.
We could be back in business the way New Zealand is if we took coronavirus seriously. South Dakota largely stayed home in March and April, and our case numbers went down significantly. We then put our party hats and positive pants on all summer as if we had nothing to worry about, and here we are with our worst case rates of the year.
Looks at map: hey, there we are – the Alabama of the north.
Thanks NOem.
The SD State Fair starts today. The 2020 slogan is “Perfect Vision of Fun”. According to KELO, the SD State Fair is doing several things to help mitigate the spread of Covid by having more hand sanitizing stations, spreading out benches and tables, and simply encouraging people to wear masks and social distance. No mask mandate at all. https://www.keloland.com/news/eye-on-keloland/eye-on-keloland-what-you-can-expect-at-the-sd-state-fair/
In Tripp County, people are also going to gather without social distancing or masks. Winner is still putting on their grand Labor Day celebrations this weekend, including classic car show at the museum, downtown midway with carnival rides that are impossible to keep clean all day, a demolition derby at the fairgrounds, and a Labor Day parade to cap it all off. People from all over South Central SD and beyond attend Winner’s events this time of year.
As for Madison, they never do anything for Labor Day weekend, but their Chamber of Commerce made the wise decision to call off their summer block parties back in May. And just last week, they cancelled the remaining events for 2020, including the Christmas Tree lighting and family fun day normally held the first weekend in December. DSU on the other hand is still scheduled to play home football games and have their annual Trojan Day parade.
I was planning on heading home to see family, but with cases rapidly rising, I’ve decided to stay put and hold off the home vacation until it is safe to do so. Cases in Tripp County are definitely going to spike following this weekend along with the rest of the state and region.
drumpf body count has climbed some more…
United States
Coronavirus Cases:
6,334,593
Deaths:
191,027
200,000 killed by trump virus by Labor Day seems about right. But but, trump says your 401k is going through the roof. Guess you can cash it in at the Pearly Gates for a cigarette 9 miles long https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0EiV423j0M
It’s as if there is a contest among various “civic” groups to see which one can sicken and perhaps kill the most South Dakotans. Kruel Kristi sits back on her camo throne cheering them on because this devastation is “what she expected.”
We are leaving the state for the holiday weekend, stocked up on masks and hand sanitizer and going where it is safe to be out of the house.