Donald Trump told us that “on November 4, you won’t hear about [covid-19] anymore.”
While the vote count did dominate the news yesterday, coronavirus did not magically disappear. As heedless of the election as it has been of other holidays and bluster-dictions from Trump, coronavirus kept sickening, hospitalizing, and killing South Dakotans, Americans, and other human beings:
- South Dakota reported 14 more coronavirus deaths, bringing our total to 460, and a record number of hospitalizations.
- Kristi Noem’s journalistic bête noire Angela Kennecke talks to staff at Avera McKennan and hears that the state’s numbers about available hospital beds underplay the stress our hospitals and health care workers are under due to our unwillingness to take serious measures to prevent the current coronavirus spike.
- Far from taking the day off, coronavirus posted a record number of new infections in the United States yesterday, 102,591. That’s the first time our daily count has hit six figures. It probably won’t be the last.
- Rural hospitals are having to rely on expensive traveling medical staff to meet the crushing demands of the pandemic. The ranks of those traveling nurses and doctors are starting to thin, however, as those migrant professionals wear out under unsafe working conditions and a lack of workplace rights.
- Kaiser Health News and the UK Guardian estimate that 1,361 U.S. healthcare workers have died of coronavirus.
- The British Parliament yesterday approved Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s proposed one-month lockdown to control the spread of coronavirus. The vote was 516–38. The United Kingdom’s daily average new case rate over the last week has been 33.7 per 100,000 population. The U.S. daily average new case rate over the last week has been 27.7 per 100K. 21 states, including South Dakota and all of our adjoining states, have daily average case rates higher than the U.K.’s. South Dakota’s is 125.8; North Dakota’s is 157.4.
Dr. Andrew Ellsworth, who has taken on the role of “The Prairie Doc,” tells us we shouldn’t let fear run rampant, but we still need to be responsible and help our hospitals and scientists fight coronavirus:
Approaching something with respect rather than fear is helpful in so many things. Whether a wild animal, fire or a weapon, cautious respect is usually more helpful than fear. Education and experience, without losing caution and respect, may be lifesaving.
Those principles could be helpful as we cope with COVID-19. You may not be afraid, or you could be overcome with fear. On the one hand, fear could paralyze us and cripple our response. On the other hand, a complete disregard for measures to help decrease the spread of the virus is like being careless with fire. We all want to return to a normalcy and way of life that is healthy physically, mentally, socially and economically. However, cases are on the rise, and denial of reality and a disregard for others is fuel for the fire.
The efforts of so many people to decrease the spread such as social distancing, wearing masks, washing hands and being careful is helping to give scientists more time to research treatments and vaccinations. Progress is being made, and so many people are united in the same goal of getting through this pandemic, safely, together [Dr. Andrew Ellsworth, “Choose Respect, Not Fear,” Kingsbury Journal, 2020.11.04].
The election is over, and coronavirus is still here. Governor Kristi Noem may ignore the pandemic and the CDC guidelines for reducing the spread—she traveled West River today visiting all sorts of people indoors, without wearing a mask:
…but we cannot pretend that coronavirus is some media hoax. Coronavirus is a real problem, sickening and killing real people. We need to ignore Donald’s and Kristi’s bad example. We need to wear our masks, stay away from people, stay home as much as we can, listen to and protect our overworked doctors and nurses, and trust scientists.
Today’s death toll in South Dakota: 22 more South Dakotans killed by coronavirus. Hospitalizations went down by 8, but we also saw 1,360 new cases.
And today’s positivity rate is up around 60% again, and 29 new deaths in ND today! First time either state topped 20 deaths, and we both blew our old highs out of the water. Nothing to see here, KovidKristi; go back to hawking shirts celebrating blowing away Covid with our 12-gauges. What a uniquely horrible person she is.
drumpf body count for this very day, so far…..
United States
Coronavirus Cases:
9,851,936
Deaths:
240,349
https://covid.sd.gov/
Is unresponsive at this time.
I think Pennington County cases increased nearly 300 positives this 24 hour period. I Will report back.
DFP has been a little funky today too, but thank god and 330 Buffalo god loving ‘mericans her PSA lying that “we’ve done a great job” is still functional. No different than lying gov Daugaard (when it mattered) and lying gov Rounds (most of the time).
Update this article anyone? (Get a load of Trump’s smiling mug as 5th face on Mt Rushmore-priceless). https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/07/25/fact-check-south-dakotas-covid-19-stats-arent-good-claimed/5505749002/
Here’s Kristi Noem’s dreamy handler Lewandowski, doing what he does when he’s not handling her:
https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1324457834755559426
Sorry—196 new cases in Pennington County.
drumpf must have stepped on the body count accelerator today…
United States
Coronavirus Cases:
9,910,267
Deaths:
240,900
Could hit two more milestones today.
This morning in all of the state of North Dakota the number of ICU beds available were:
Six.
That’s what FREEDOM looks like. That’s what Luddites’ “personal responsibility” looks like.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9D7oeM3zd8
Nice bunt, noem and the worthless health department. Now other states are banning travelers from South Dakota and banning travel to South Dakota.
Let the Luddites determine public health by their “personal responsibility” results in no personal and no government responsibility. Apparently South Dakota is angling for another big government bailout to protect South Dakotans from their incompetent governor.
https://www.keloland.com/keloland-com-original/kansas-joins-the-list-to-restrict-travel-from-south-dakota/
Finally South Dakota receives some serious affirmation: our state isn’t fake, it’s real – our Governor told America so.
In seriousness: I find calling South Dakota “real America” disturbing, because doing so implies certain parts of America are unfit to be America. But of course, she and the GOP have shown throughout time immemorial that they only care about some Americans. Why should we expect her to mention visiting people who have nothing to do with business?
Mr. Ellsworth worded the situation well, in my opinion. I’m not surprised he would considering his community, where many conservatives opposing doing our utmost to curb the spread claim others who do things like wear masks must live in fear…despite themselves apparently being conservative because they fear what not conserving creates (socialism, communism, loose morals) and/or destroys (America, religious freedom, the 2nd Amendment). I’m generalizing here, of course.
Fear is a useful tool when a result of perceiving real threats. Let’s stop shaming each other for fear so as to stop distracting ourselves from the debate of what real threats and related potential victims exist.
Covid is rampant in counties that went strongest for trump. Yet many of those fools ‘think the virus is under control’. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/counties-with-worst-coronavirus-surges-overwhelmingly-voted-trump-01604617491?mod=home-page
I resent these LACK OF “personal responsibility” Luddites putting me and my family at risk.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4pRe8ul7KQ
If there was any doubt about what Noem thinks is important, look at her photo tweet of group that captures her little extra concrete step to perch on for optics. Sorry gov, that doesn’t make you bigger in life.
Rhoden might wanna listen to Pennsylvania’s Lt Gov John Fetterman (a last name in infamay around here) working through election results as a model of how to earn a state salary. Maybe then Larry could climb up on the geographic “center of the United States” in Belle too. Having earned it.
The places Noem visited yesterday have not counted as many COVID victims as other places, but there have been some. I would bet a dollar that everyone she encountered in Butte and Perkins County knows at least one of the fatalities personally and probably a few others who have suffered but “recovered”. Her solution seems not to have changed since the statewide cases were less than 10% of what they are now. I doubt she could finger a fiddle, but she must be taking lessons from Nero.
A question: why did Rapid City Regional Hospital corporate interstate medical profit center decide to choose MONUMENT as its new brand at this time?
1.) Monuments are obviously a political statement as the “Lost Cause” Confederate obstruction movement resisted Civil War reconstruction in a complex long reaching racist effort to resist President Lincoln’s abolitionist policy for the nation. 2.) The Klu Klux Klan established itself in the 1920s cross burnings and uniformed marches in Sturgis. 3.) Gettysburg city police later pasted the dog whistle Stars and Bars flag on their official uniforms. Policing has its genesis in slave patrolling. The City resisted removing this dog whistle once it was recognized for what it’s malicious purpose was. 4.) Mt. Rushmore recently was politicized by the GOP in its propaganda political presidential rally on July 3 where racist tropes were trumpeted at a screaming crowd (during the pandemic). 5.) Freshman SD Rep Dusty Johnson has offered brazen needless legislation “protecting” (from what—Riot boosters?) this specific national monument from removal. 6.) SD Governor Kristi Noem, no stranger to “dog whistle” tactics, directly threatened the populace ignoring social distancing at this large public gathering at state/federal expense from the amphitheater podium as she exhorted the crowd and national media with pure GOP propaganda.