Coronavirus has now killed 200 South Dakotans in six months. If that rate keeps up (i.e., if we don’t see a surge in the dark, closed-in winter months… like we usually do with infectious respiratory diseases), one year of coronavirus will take 400 of our friends and neighbors.
In 2017, flu and pneumonia killed 217 South Dakotans. 263 died from diabetes. 414 died from stroke. 191 South Dakotans killed themselves. Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis killed 153. Guns killed 101. Drug overdoses killed 73. Murderers killed 34.
In 2017, motor vehicle crashes killed 166 people in South Dakota. Falls killed 196 of us; other accidents killed 175.
Faced with coronavirus aiming to become the sixth-largest cause of death in South Dakota, Governor Kristi Noem tweeted not one word about coronavirus over the past week. She celebrated her maskless chumming and tyranny-chanting with pillow vendor Mike Lindeel in Michigan. She hobnobbed masklessly indoors in Watertown, held an uninformative press conference about our killer Attorney General, assured us that South Dakota’s economy is “quickly getting back to normal,” warned that our principles are under attack, recommended folks respond to the Census, praised more government support for ethanol, and encouraged her followers to crowd into Custer State Park for the next state-sponsored superspreader event.
But as coronavirus killed the 200th South Dakotan, Governor Noem remained silent on Twitter about what we can do to stop that disease from taking more lives.
The country has lost 200,000 people to the Coronavirus already, despite all efforts to stop it. That compares to about 40,000 annually from the flu. Of course, without mitigation, the covid numbers would be far higher. No, it’s not just like the flu.
Governor Noem knows all of this. She has chosen to be a national player in the denial game instead. It is working. She has Cory Lewandowski guiding her and the conservative media adoring her.
Who would have thought that being stupid… would be so deadly popular?
Now, I know some will suggest that Noem has kept our economy going strong in South Dakota. Well, doing nothing to control the virus does have short term benefits. That’s true.
But wearing masks does nothing to harm our economy and actually helps in the long run. The same goes for encouraging social distancing while in public. There was no need for our numbers to skyrocket like they have in the last two months. Those harmless mitigation efforts would have prevented thousands of covid cases and many deaths in South Dakota by the end of this pandemic.
With our cases now triple what they were, I think it is reasonable to assume that our hospitalizations and deaths will be roughly triple what they should have been.
Simply irresponsible.
I totally agree it’s not just irresponsible it’s reckless and I haven’t seen her show a ounce of sympathy towards the family who lost family or the healthcare workers.i am no longer proud to be a South Dakotan and I would never vote for her!!she just seems like she wanted to meet the president because they are both republican and he part of the trump show( aka joker ) or just to touch her feet on the White House carpet I bet all to just pump her own ego!!
I’m not sure she knows what has been happening here. She’s been out of state for awhile-except to be in Sioux Falls for a worthless news conference about out AG killing someone.
She looked annoyed about even being there
Of course it’s not just folks of color dying from the trump virus. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=99&v=Coj8nnoZxzM&feature=emb_title
Investors aren’t nearly as sanguine about the economy and coronavirus as Noem: after three straight down weeks, the Dow today has shed 800 points, as investors are “growing increasingly worried about renewed lockdowns in the winter while the economic recovery from the pandemic remains fragile.”
so very true james!
those 202 dead people were consumers and taxpayers that are no longer part of the south dakota economy.
i would guess we will loose 400-600 people to this virus by the end of the year. that is like loosing a typical south dakota rural community.