Reality ultimately catches up with everyone. A Forbes travel columnist writes up South Dakota as the most dangerous place to travel during the pandemic:
Risk factors: No statewide mask mandate – 154.5 new daily cases per 100,000 people – 58.8% of Covid tests are positive
Few governors have been more defiantly anti-mask than South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, a Republican, whose state is the epicenter of Covid-19 spread. The Mount Rushmore state is recording a staggering 154.5 new Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people, on a rolling weekly average, according to the Harvard-Brown risk-assessment tool. Any state with over 25 new daily cases per 100,000 people is colored red on the map, which means it is considered “at a tipping point.” South Dakota’s risk level is more than 500% above that threshold, a breathtaking failure to manage the crisis.
Importantly, South Dakota’s percent positive rate is 58.8%, also the highest in the country, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. That means nearly six in 10 Covid tests come back positive. The percent positive should ideally be under 5%, according the World Health Organization. Worse yet, positivity has risen in South Dakota for the past two consecutive weeks, which suggests that the state is not close to getting the virus under control [Suzanne Rowan Kelleher, “Covid-19 Alert: The 10 Riskiest States to Visit Right Now, Ranked,” Forbes, 2020.11.14].
The South Dakota Department of Tourism cooks up imaginary numbers on how much free press we get to justify extravagant expenditures on fireworks for the Kristi–Donald ego rally at Mount Rushmore. Will Team Tourism also offer an economic analysis of the negative impact of articles like this Forbes rundown talking about South Dakota’s “breathtaking failure” to provide a safe experience for travelers? How much of our state marketing budget is negated by opening paragraphs in USA Today like this:
South Dakota welcomed hundreds of thousands of visitors to a massive motorcycle rally this summer, declined to cancel the state fair and still doesn’t require masks. Now its hospitals are filling up and the state’s COVID-19 death rate is among the worst in the world [Joel Shannon, “The Dakotas Are ‘As Bad As It Gets Anywhere in the World’ for Covid-19,” USA Today, updated 2020.11.15].
There are two ways out of this bad press. First, we can point out that things are bad all over. Following South Dakota on the Forbes hotlist are North Dakota, Iowa, Wyoming, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Illinois, Minnesota, Utah, and Kansas. So South Dakota isn’t uniquely dangerous; we sit in the middle of an infected heart of the nation.
Second, we could adopt a broader, more sensible approach to tourism and the pandemic and tell everyone now is not the time to travel anywhere. Lower your risk and the risk of your fellow Americans and stay home for the holidays.
The chances of South Dakota’s state government redirecting its marketing dollars from Noem image boosters and freedom talk to serious public health guidance seem pretty slim. The Governor’s team is more likely to try spinning bad press like the Forbes risky-travel list as a PR victory, another day of South Dakota getting attention.
But you can only wish away so many facts. 1,426 South Dakotans died in World War II, and that took three and a half years. 644 South Dakotans have died of coronavirus—219 just in November so far. In the 1940s, we gave our lives at a rate of about 30 a month to protect freedom from Hitler and Hirohito. Now we’re giving up about 80 lives a month for the freedom to get tattoos in Sturgis and hot wings downtown. If we keep that up, we deserve all the bad press we get.
Just for your info. According to this Politico article Corey Lewandowski has contracted the Covid and is in quarrantine. When was the governors last close contact with him?
When it comes to total cases, notably in our neighbor to the North, Canada, our most adjacent province (Manitoba – 856/100k) is not the worst in that country, while the next province West (Saskatchewan) sits at 455/100k.
SD is 7,391/100k. Not so sure that being “in the middle” of the outbreak would lead to a 10X or 20X greater infection rate to a neighbor with a similar population density and climate (in the populated areas).
Sorry I forgot to include link to Politico article. https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/13/trump-week-of-silence-436493
Yet South Dakotans are perfectly fine with Noem’s refusal to address her infected state. It will come back to haunt her when she runs for higher office. Money is more important than saving lives when it comes to Republicans.
Does everything always have to revolve around money in this country?
Do your job, Kristi, what with the stalling on the Ravnsborg investigation?
Let’s see Ravnborg’s cell phone records. South Dakotans have a right to know.
I expect little to no charges for Ravnsborg, that’s the way it’s done in SD when it comes to one of their own. If they were going to charge him with anything serious they would have done that by now.
The trouble is, Jenny, that if Kristi actually did her job – on anything – she’d have to admit she’s been wrong up until now, and Covid Corey’s playbook is deny everything, fight everyone, and stand your ground behind a tightly fenced / gated mansion.
This nurse from Woonsocket calls bull on GNOem and the deniers of this virus. trumpians have done a great job of killing people. Well done GNOem and republican legislators, well done. The Nazi party of old is proud of your extermination efforts. https://crooksandliars.com/cltv/2020/11/south-dakota-er-nurse-recounts-fcking
The nurse is correct, about what 680 poor dead souls are compared to a town the size of Woonsocket that would vanish considering that number… Astounding
Wingnut pols in iowa are claiming the election proves they handled (or not) the pandemic correctly. Not all things wingnut stoopid are in South Dakota.
Bob, no offense, but Lewandowski illness was reported at DFP last week already.
Last Census has South Dakota with 311 towns. 216 of them have populations less than the 644 deaths reported as of Sunday Nov 15. Imagine any one of those towns if something had wiped the entire town out and the news that would make. The next 48 towns in size would have lost 50-99% of their residents if it happened to them. Maybe Noem’s plan is to just spread the deaths so it isn’t as obvious to her believers.
Face it South Dakota, Kristi has bigger things in mind. I’m sure she’ll jet down to Georgia to help Peedew. She has seen the bright lights of the big city and isn’t concerned with a few hundred more deaths in her lil home state.
Look, it’s easy to complain. SD is the worst state for COvid now. Noem is in power at least until January 2023.
Why not organize directly against Noem now? Directly.
Start a state wide co op (or nonprofit) for Mask Wearers. Seriously. Kind of like an AARP or farmers union for Mask Wearers. It can be a power against Noem’s malfeasance in office.
The MW Coop can provide daily briefings to the public on the web.
Honestly. Noem probably will get renominated and re-elected in 2022. She and the do nothing Legislature will continue to do nothing in 2020 and beyond. She will never be impeached by a now 90% Republican Legislature.
The only way to oppose her reign is to give people a choice. Join the co op or take a big chance by not wearing a mask. The Doctors agree with wearing a mask, I’m sure they would join too.
We can talk about the 250,000 Americans who died or the 650 South Dakotans who have died. We can analyze how Franco killed hundreds of thousands with bullets, and Trump (Orange Franco) and Noem simply let the virus kill people. All this is talk.
The next election is 2 years away. That’s too long.
Maybe I’m on the wrong forum. Talk is easy.
How about Action now? Anyone with me on this?
Strength comes by doing.
SD is 20 per cent nonwhite- I actually think the opposite will happen. I feel that Noem will not be relected for a myriad of reasons, notably her lack of leadership, pandering to Trump on Fox and Friends, jet setting across the nation, failed meth campaigns etc. We have never had a Gov in SD like Kristi before, even Janklow wasnt this bad. She won with razor thin margins in 2018 against Sutton; if he runs again, he will have an excellent platform to run on. She was anticipating a second term Trump cabinet appointment, that fell through.
Good news is that there is only 30% of S. Dakotans that believe the virus is real or a threat, so 70% will be more than willing to step aside and let us snowflakes be first in line for the vaccine. Right? Uh huh… !@#%^&*
kristi got a bee in he bonnet over the USA Today article pointing out that South and North Daktota were among the worst places in the world with the COVID virus.
Instead of trying to be the BEST place in the world, noem swoops to argue her state is not quite the worst. Oh, republicants, you set such low bars.
Meanwhile doctors and nurses are going public with the national media begging for rudimentary government help. Doctors and nurses are the last line of defense. In trumper noem’s world they are the last and only line of defense.
https://www.keloland.com/keloland-com-original/youve-got-to-help-us-a-plea-to-gov-noem-from-a-sioux-falls-doctor/
I just saw this hardworking nurse from South Dakota named Jodi Doerring being interviewed on CNN tonight. She says some of her dying patients are mad at her because they don’t believe they are dying of Covid.
Thanks Jodi for trying to give SD a wake up call, and honestly does SD always have to make the national news for something that is not good? Aren’t you South Dakotans sick of it?
Your governor should not be making Covid a partisan issue and she should be listening to the frontline workers. It’s real, Gov Noem, covid doesn’t matter if you’re republican or democrat. Be part of the solution instead of part of the problem.
Governor Noem resembles our Iowa Governor in many ways! Reynolds doesn’t wear the angel clothes that Noem does, but their responses to the pandemic and their eroticized attraction to Trump and Trumpism is so similar that they could be sorority sisters (in Q-Anon).
It is beyond pale that the governor of our great state of South Dakota would not do everything she could to help reduce this pandemic afflicting us. Even if she doesn’t call for a lockdown or mask mandate, she should be asking no pleading with us to follow the scientific facts and WEAR A MASK when in public! Instead she spreads doubt, denies there is any way to prevent this plague, and even promotes every close coupled event. So now we have a population of 70% deniers and our hospitals and staff are stressed out to the max. Read this to see what those that follow her believe:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/11/16/south-dakota-nurse-coronavirus-deniers/
Mr. Loren, grudznick is very old and at risk to die from the covid bugs. However, because you are so adamant, I will let you have my place in line for the vaccines, if/when they come. But you can’t whine anymore, OK?
Rapid City Schools are officially now closed due to the GNOem/trump virus. Lovely
My husband and I both caught COVID-19 twice; once in the spring and again in November. We have taken “personal responsibility” as Kristi Noem likes to put it, and worn masks when we couldn’t stay home. Unfortunately thanks to her encouragement, most of our fellow citizens are NOT wearing masks so it didn’t save us. We have to care about each other and all of us need to wear masks for it to work.
My husband is in the hospital in Rapid City with a lung aneurysm. When he is out (and right now I refuse to entertain the possibility that he won’t get out) we are sending her the bill.
Since we did our bit, now she can do hers. Personal responsibility and all.
Well, they can’t sink much lower in the standardized testing, so they probably might as well close. Probably a good thing. Keep those kids home. Don’t let them roam our streets.
Well there are consequences Kristi, to your denier attitude. RCAS just announced that ALL students going to level 3 Wednesday, Nov.18. That be home school until further notice. Because the Covid-19 plague is raging out of control like the California wildfires were. Maybe if our tRUMP-wannabee governor would have paid attention to South Dakota instead of her grandiose ex-POTUS re-election campaign, our Rapid City students would be in school Wednesday and thereafter, instead of now quarantined at home.
Oh and by the way, Kristi: Biden won fair and square. If you believe a few Democrats would scheme to cast fraudulent votes for Biden but of course no Republicans would ever do that for Trump’s advantage, then you are delusional. Be careful what you wish for, the pending recount verification could well tally even a larger lead for Joe Biden.
So sad to hear the nurse relaying her dying patients’ behavior! She looked exhausted and burnt out, much like the doctor in that documentary of the pandemic in Italy! I don’t think the patients there were in such denial, though, and certainly not so ungrateful!
Instead of closing education, close the bars, restaurants, big weddings, sports events and so on, business needs to enforce mask wearing. Keep education open. We already suffer from ignorance, we certainly don’t need to add more.
The vaccine may not be a silver bullet 95% effective but for how long? And how quickly will the virus mutate? I know of others who have caught the virus twice. Back in June Noem was on Newsmax touting South Dakota success (link one). Newsmax is extremely partisan Trumpsters now hating Fox as too liberal are loving this dangerous propaganda – talk about fake news – it’s rumored Trump wants to buy Newsmax or start his own network. If you watch the second link you’ll understand why Trump supporters are able to completely maintain a separate reality. Not good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-D5VlByMK2A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ5K3TMTNg0
Good point happy camper on the vaccine. Biden will need to rejoin the WHO, work harder with the UN and above all, scientists to help track and keep the next pandemic at bay. It worked with Ebola so it can work in the future. Education is the key.
Oh, and put an end to CAFO’s and other transfer points to future pandemics.
There’s also the certain fact that even if a vaccine is ready to be administered “by the end of the year”, as long as Trump is in office, no one will get it except (of course) himself, his family, and whoever he chooses. Everyone else can go whistle for it.
Keep things in perspective. Like HC there are a lot of unknowns and it will take much time and human trials to sort all this stuff out. Keep expectations low, especially when the pathological liar speaks.
I like the idea of joining the ideas of “20 percent of SD is nonwhite” with the protest statement of Kristen, who will send her husband’s hospital bill to Governor Noem (I’d send a copy to the State Secretary of Health, too.) Wouldn’t it be great to organize a campaign through social media and paid advertisements on TV and newspapers that asks people who get sick with covid to send their hospital bills to Noem?! And the Secretary of Health? And let the media know about it?
drumpf/noem pandemic body count keeps rising and surpassing milestones along the way…
United States
Coronavirus Cases:
11,574,332
Deaths:
253,037
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/17/us/south-dakota-covid-surge/index.html
South Dakota widow from DeSmet has her say on Covid-19.
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/526324-north-dakota-records-worlds-highest-covid-19-mortality-rate
South Dakota has the third highest rate of mortality inn the world. Good work!
Unbelievable, just unbelievable, it’s too bad South Dakotans aren’t the brightest, MFI.
Kristi is really negligent when she doesn’t wear a mask, and she’s just doing it to be in the spotlight. Why she doesn’t want to listen to the healthcare workers is baffling. They don’t deserve to be overworked and in danger of getting covid.
She doesn’t care that she is putting other people at risk. MN has a mask mandate but the stupid people here, mainly in small towns, think they shoudn’t have to wear one and small town businesses, a lot of them don’t enforce it, like gas stations.
‘Stupid is a as stupid does.’
re. Rapid City Area Schools test scores:
– About a third of RCAS students are Native. About half of RCAS students qualify for free lunch; a good proxy for living in poverty.
– The schools with the highest test scores: Corral Drive ES; Southwest MS; Stevens HS. Surprise! The wealthiest, whitest part of the district.
Provide opportunities for Rapid Citians to escape poverty and racism, and RCAS test scores will improve.
https://www.publicschoolreview.com/south-dakota/rapid-city-area-school-district-51-4-school-district/4659820-school-district
Asians still have the highest test scores overall. Nobody really knows why but one thing is their countries are extemely focused on education and they are taught to highly respect their educators. Jews have higher test scores than other ethnic groups also.
In the US, it has always been what income group your family is in and what neigborhood you live in and the color of your skin that really defines whether your state will spend money on you or not – ie new schools, extra money for teachers etc. Money means everything in the US.
For instance, Gear UP corruption happened and the accuser massacred himself and his family and SD really didn’t give an outcry. Why? Because the money was supposed to have been going to Indian schools. If that money was supposed to have been going to white schools there would have been more of an outcry.
Second oldest sinator and iowa senior disgrace, Grassley, tests positive for covid.
My goodness, Ms. Jenny, your first three sentences
sound like something straight out of Mr. Trump’s stereotypical mouth.
Well, a scary thing to ask ourselves. Do you believe in Darwin? Does environment alter an organism over time? If so, would human groups diverge and have different characteristics both physical and mental? Why do Ashkenazi Jews have the highest IQs? All cultural! We are no different – biology means nothing! So you don’t believe in Darwin. It’s not a circular argument, just difficult, uncomfortable questions that are okay to ask.
The highest IQ’s could not solve the noise issue in telecommunications, until a feller from Turkey figured it out. That’s why there is 5G and now soon, 5.5G. Also, the biggest ball of twine in the world, comes from Darwin. So yeah, I believe it cause I’ve seen it
5.5 Gs sounds really neat-o, Mr. jerry. I know we have already 5 of the Gs so this next half is probably going to really be something and melt the world. I will have to read out this next half step and the Sciences behind it.
Indeed, it is really neat-o. “Profile of Erdal Arıkan, an obscure Turkish academic whose groundbreaking work in information theory in 2005 helped Huawei dominate the 5G infrastructure market (Steven Levy/Wired)”.
Check it out to see how it may be possible to change the way we see our world and to make it work better with the population and the climate we all must be able to live in. It’s one helluva article and worth the read if you’re interested in science and stuff like that, you know, anti-republican stuff.