Could reality finally be setting in here in South Dakota? Could we be finally be ready to say that days with over a thousand new coronavirus cases and dozens of new deaths demand some real changes in our behavior to protect the life that we so proudly claim to be pro?
One week after rejecting a mask mandate on a 5–4 vote, the Sioux Falls City Council reconvened last and voted 6–2 to say, no, yeah, we oughta wear masks; just don’t expect us to enforce that:
The largest city in South Dakota reversed course and passed a 60-day mask mandate Tuesday after enforcement was removed from the ordinance and medical groups said hospitals exceeded capacity dealing with COVID-19 patients.
…Councilor Greg Neitzert, who voted against the ordinance, told the audience that his “yes” votes on amendments were to make the ordinance “as weak and ineffectual as I can” in case it passed and should not have been taken as a vote of support. “I want to neuter this,” he said.
He warned that the ordinance would be toothless and an empty gesture.
“We’re going to put this in place, and it’s not going to work,” Neitzert said before the vote.
“If you’re for mandates, you’re not getting anything tonight. If you’re against mandates, you’re going to be vilified,” he said [Stephen Groves, “Sioux Falls OKs Mask Mandate After Push from Medical Groups,” AP via Minneapolis Star Tribune, 2020.11.17].
Neutered reality, maybe, but more reality than we got last week.
Sioux Falls mayor Paul TenHaken admits now that coronavirus is “growing at an unacceptable rate” and putting a strain on our hospitals, but he was relieved that he didn’t have to vote to pass the mask rule. On the other side of the state, Rapid City mayor Steve Allender is advocating for his city council to require masks all over town:
“I think it’s time,” Allender said. “…We’re here between a rock and a hard place and running out of options.”
Enforcement is going to be a challenge, the mayor said. Allender hopes it won’t be an issue and expects businesses will do their part [“Mayor Allender Urges for Mask Mandate in Rapid City,” KOTA-TV, 2020.11.17].
Rapid City schools are going all online today until at least after Thanksgiving. Rapid City Stevens High School went online at the end of October, and five other Rapid City schools soon joined Stevens online due to surging coronavirus cases.
We’ve let our hospitals reach capacity and then some. We’ve let our schools get to the point where they don’t have enough healthy, non-quarantined staff to sustain normal operations. Might we finally be ready as a state to change our behavior and take serious steps to bring our shamefully high coronavirus numbers back down?
Councilor Greg Neitzert, by his comments, has shown he is unfit for office. Dump him as soon as you can and remember his statements if he ever runs for any office again
Coronavirus reality setting in? It better be by now….
drumpf/noem body count
United States
Coronavirus Cases:
11,698,124
Deaths:
254,311
Way over a thousand victims of drumpf/noem hoax yesterday.
Hello ‘In The Moment’….today (Nov. 18 @12 noon central/11AM mountain on SDPB) I hear on your radio station that you are hosting our South Dakota governor Kristi Noem…We are residents here in Rapid City and Pennington County are deeply concerned about the out-of-control Covid-19 plague which could kill us senior citizens, and also the threat to our United States democracy with the anti-election propaganda being promoted.
We hope you quiz Governor Noem on her lack of leadership to protect us South Dakota citizens, her denial of proven medical facts when she dismisses the use of masks in public, and her dismissal of the election results which elected Joe Biden as the next POTUS.
Thanks in advance for considering our views.
Oh, but girls. Kristi is fighting all those ugly liberal scientists and doctors who want you to wear a mask to prevent as many deaths as possible. Sooo, you have to wave killing a complete stranger ( or your parents) against covering that beautiful face. In South Dakota its your freedom to choose, unless of course its an abortion we are talking about. Then Republicans want to make that choice for you, but this is really about face.
I think Greg was speaking that “I want to neuter this” as a meaning that he wanted to be neutered for being in the gene pool.
Rapid City Common Council is holding a special meeting tomorrow (11-19-20) to consider a mandatory mask ordinance for the city. The ordinance has the mayor’s support.
From SDPB: South Dakota vs-a-vs Vermont. https://www.sdpb.org/blogs/news-and-information/two-states-different-paths-vermont-keeps-virus-low-while-rivaling-sds-economy/?fbclid=IwAR1gpORM0V5JYNb8vTSuXzlMTLTAzk8C4gZJOfBZFSKLLDjaiCVKCksLJVM
Why the hell do the Lords of Misrule in South Dakota wait until they “are between a rock and a hard place and running out of options,” as Allender said? Somehow too many South Dakotans are too dumb or cowardly to face facts, which have been perfectly obvious to everyone with a double digits IQ. There are folks with Down’s Syndrome who are wearing masks and social distancing where I live. If they can do it, what’s wrong with you guys?
Really, South Dakotans stick their head in the sand repeatedly, don’t accept science or common sense and then wonder why they generate Superfund sites and get suckered by hucksters like the sewage ash scammers. They got suckered by Donald Trump and Covid Kristi, and there are dead souls and grieving families as a result. Get an effing grip South Dakota.
.
Donald, you recall the proverb- ” You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink!” It’s
pertinent to South Dakota when we have a ‘mule-headed’ governor in the chair….
Donald, South Dakotans, I’m sure you know by now, are stupider than most , which is why they are working two or three jobs for the price of one, are anti-union, scared of Democrats and are members of Parler and QAnon. The intelligent gene pool left the state. South Dakotans have their guns and their American flag to worship that that they go to bed with, and as long as their far right GOP leaders tell them they are god fearing, they will continually vote for them. That’s just the way it is in SD. I know it’s pretty strang but they seem to be content.
I just hope one of the young uns introduces their old stubborn Republican grandpa to the joys of cannabis now that it will be legal next year out there. Maybe they will let their guard down and young Dems will be able to conform them.
Listened to Kristi on Lori Walsh’s show this morning.
“We forecast all this,” she said.
drumpf/noem body count in runaway mode…
United States
Coronavirus Cases:
11,758,468
Deaths:
255,109
That is cold, Bob N. Kristi forecast all this…….republicans do you have to be so…….
At today’s news conference, the governor once again encourages to primarily maintain good hygiene but refuses to recommend that everyone mask up and maintain social distancing. The science is now clear that hand hygiene is of secondary importance because the predominant mode of transmission is airborne for COVID. Apparently Kristi will only encourage mask wearing and social distancing if serves her political purposes rather than following the recommendations of medical and science professionals. In other words, we have a governor who is willing to sacrifice the health and lives of South Dakotans to maintain her conservative credibility.
As to the federal dollars, she is vague about her plans for the money that needs to be allocated by December 31, 2020. What is the reason for the delay? Thousands of citizens and businesses are suffering because of the adverse effects of the pandemic. Determining the distribution of the federal funds should not be taking this long.
Empathy doesn’t go over well in SD, I guess
I see that Killer Kristi has become the face of Do-Nothing Governors in the prairie states. Her face is out there along with articles on her poor decisions regarding the health of citizens. Once she decides what her next ambitious step is going to be, her face, her decisions, and her death count will follow her always. She is death.
Kristi is just a Michele Bachmann, nothing serious. In MN Gov Walz is closing down Restaurants and bars for a month to contain the virus. Mayo has had to expand its ICU because people won’t wear a mask or practice social distancing.
Mask up people and stay home.
Hey, Bob. Wondering about Kristi’s forecast.
Did she forecast what would happen with mask usage?
Apparently, her forecasts were made for no mask usage.
drumpf/noem body count hit the afterburners today…Started the day at 254311 and last call tonight is…
United States
Coronavirus Cases:
11,869,289
Deaths:
256,206
Over 2k today so far. Wonder if noem nothing forecast this?
Gotta hand it to Kristi she is the queen of ‘Blowing smoke’ in an interview. She stresses that it is the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions we need to protect but yet in the same sentence she can claim that the medical community agrees with her that masks are not effective at preventing the virus spread. So OK to blow smoke right at a stressed elderly South Dakota citizen, right?
Then she can claim that all the other states have discovered that lockdowns do not work and that South Dakota health professionals agree with her format. How she can get away with those lies without the interviewer calling BULL is a shame.
But thankfully South Dakota cities one by one are ignoring her lies and mandating common sense scientific proven measures.
Mr. ds, you may want to take a stroll through the covid bug memorial at the already constructed President Donald J. Trump presidential library.
https://djtrumplibrary.com/covid
Apparently, she was lying.
Grudz re; your hero Trump’s ‘potential’ Presidential Library, do you think it will include a Jail Cell as a reminder of his legacy? Or an orange jump suit with his name on the back? I think you trolled that from Juanita Jean’s website, my boy. But, that’s ‘par for the course’ for your like, right?
Mr. Jake, at what point have you ever read grudznick advocating for Mr. Trump? You are not paying attention, a fact everybody on this blogging already knew. But I got your goat, eh?
No,Grudz, the “The Goat” is you in your bloviations!” We all know here know you adhere to your decrying the liberal connotation of facts-which facts we all know are “alternate facts” in your dialogue of factual philosophy. You sound like our governor Noem in her translating of facts from Johns Hopkins University! Always shifting away from advocating for a positive move against the Covd scourge by simply wearing a mask like our forefathers did against the scourge in 1917 against the Spanish Flu! They did it-but they weren’t fighting off Trumpists and tea-party boys like we are today!
Mr. Jake, please be more civil to your neighbors and kind and loving, like grudznick is, like Ms. Noem asked you to be. Stop casting your libbie hate onto grudznick, even though I now have two of your goats on just this one fine afternoon.
A friend of mine, who is a Democrat, said to me that he knows the election steal is on, but that he doesn’t care because he’s convinced that Trump is a Nazi.
The virus, clearly, is the path to a genocidal, psychotic “great reset”.
If you believe in God, pray.
If you do not, meditate.
If you’re in on the steal, may god have mercy on your soul, and Specops give you a speedy trip to the afterlife.
I feel so sorry for the poor naves who were brainwashed.
John, your comment makes no sense.
Trump is a selfish tyrant with no regard for the good of the nation or for passing power to the rightful winner of the election without disruption.
The virus is real. It is making South Dakotans sick. It is killing South Dakotans. Stopping the virus requires robust public policy interventions along with changes in personal habits.
DS, I feel like Kristi is following Trump to a tee. She distracts from the issues and lies to us just to create conflict and get in everyone’s head space. I feel like I have to ignore her, as I try to ignore Trump, just to preserve my sanity. We can take as given that any public comment she makes will not serve any useful purpose; it will only rally her base, increase our stress levels, and make the pandemic worse.
ds wrote: “How she can get away with those lies without the interviewer calling BULL is a shame.”
I was thinking the same thing. The local South Dakota press needs to study the data and challenge Kristi Noem. Don’t let her get away with saying mask requirements and other measures don’t work. It’s clear that they do, if you look at the evidence by state.
We know which states require masks and we know how they are performing. Kristi will cherry-pick an exception and run with it, if you let her. Please don’t. She often compares our numbers to states that were overrun in the spring when nobody knew what the virus was about. Clever, but don’t let her. She needs to be measured against other states in November, not April.
She will claim that all states have rising infection figures. That is mostly true but it doesn’t mean South Dakota numbers aren’t worse than the others. She blames regional spikes for our rise, when she has done the most to drive up regional infections.
Remember when Florida, Georgia and Arizona opened up quickly? Their numbers skyrocketed until they brought back the mandates. The evidence is there for all to see. It just takes a little research.
Grudz, Hello??? You need to practice what you preach. Debbo doesn’t come on here anymore because of your harassment of her. Other people have told me they won’t come on here because of you. You think you are so clever with words, well you’re not. Most of us on here just think you’re a mean old GOP fool.
Jenny, he is that-with a mouthful of ‘goat turds’ he seems to relish!