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Noem Lies Again: Science Continues to Show Masks Fight Pandemic

Governor Kristi Noem reaffirmed her pigheaded stupidity by averring to Boys Staters here in Aberdeen Friday that masks don’t help fight coronavirus:

Noem fielded questions, including one about whether she would go back and implement a mask mandate knowing what she knows today.

“No,” she said. “The science did not support that” [Elisa Sand, “Noem Encourages Boys State Participants to Get Involved, Gebel Elected Governor,” Aberdeen American News, 2021.06.04].

Good grief. In complete contradiction to Noem’s politically tuned lies, the science has said throughout this pandemic that masks and mask mandates work. The science says the same thing now:

The evidence on lockdowns may be dicey, but the science on masks is clear: They work. Even experts I spoke with who think harsh lockdowns may have been counterproductive say indoor mask mandates were clearly effective.

“Indoor masking guidance was proven to be effective,” Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at the John Hopkins Center for Health Security, told me. “When you look at it all, I think that is probably going to be the one that shows the most effect. … Most things can be done safely if people socially distance and wear a mask indoors in an unvaccinated setting.”

The available research supports that conclusion. In a study published in March 2021, CDC researchers examined case and death rates at the county level after mask mandates were put into place and found the mandates were associated with slower transmission.

“Mandating masks was associated with a decrease in daily Covid-19 case and death growth rates within 20 days of implementation,” they concluded, and the effect grew the longer the mandates were in place.

An earlier study, published in June 2020 in Health Affairs, had reached the same conclusion. Its authors estimated that mask mandates had averted some 200,000 Covid-19 cases by mid-May; at the time, the US had counted less than 2 million cases, indicating that the mask mandates had a meaningful effect in slowing the virus down early in the pandemic [Dylan Scott, “California Mandated Masks. Florida Opened Its Restaurants. Did Any of It Matter?Vox, 2021.06.03].

Science says wider adoption of masks, backed with the endorsement of South Dakota’s Governor, would have reduced the spread of coronavirus and saved lives in South Dakota. Governor Kristi Noem denies that science and says she’d ignore that science and throw those lives away all over again.

Governor Kristi Noem is a lot of things, but she’s not pro-science, and she’s not pro-life.

15 Comments

  1. Donald Pay

    Seriously, she’s spread these lies at Boys State? Well, at least she didn’t bully the guy who had the cajones to ask your Governor a pointed question. Most of those young gentlemen are much smarter than Covid Kristi., and I would bet they could do a better job than she is doing.

  2. Loren

    My understanding of Boys/Girls State is that it promotes youth understanding of how government functions. Unfortunately, this IS how government functions these days, lies, conspiracy theories, and alternative facts. Atta girl, Sno Queen. !@#$%^&*!

  3. You know of course that North Dakota had a mask mandate and low and behold, it worked. Kept them lower than South Dakota. Norway had a mask mandate and kept out all those weedy swedes and had 785 deaths compared to South Dakota, how many you got boys and girls? Kristi with her freedom first approach, was a real killer.

  4. One study does not prove anything.

    The only narrative that matters it that COVID was created to terrify the US public into accepting mail in ballots. Thusly, massive fraud ensued.

    At this point, there are only three types of people in the world.

    1 – the woefully ignorant
    2 – those who know it was stolen but are kindred criminal spirits
    3 – those tho know it was stolen who are also following the Arizona audit

    In my humble opinion.

    The emperor wears no clothes.

  5. Donald Pay

    Cory provides two studies, John Dale, not one. I googled and came up with several more such studies. Hospital personnel and doctors continue to wear masks, though they are vaccinated. It’s just good medical practice.

  6. Porter Lansing

    Oh, damn. John Dale caught us in our mass subterfuge.

    Covid was created by Democratic Party double agents in China to turn Donald Trump into The Big Liar.

    Now what are you going to do about it, John Dale?

    You lost your credibility in South Dakota years ago.

  7. I learned from my research of Motorola and big wireless that the industry funds nearly 50% oppo studies to cast doubt on truth orthogonal to the bottom line. So, even though Cory funded two studies, I stand by my point.

    But what the heck, why not just defer to Fauci on 60 minutes?
    https://studio.youtube.com/video/LSgPBIgXFRA/edit

    This is a monumental crap-show that drug a bunch of good folks over its event horizon.

    Now that it’s all exposed, it must be very embarrassing for some .. so much so that they will build a bubble around themselves to contain the lie.

    I feel so bad for them.

  8. Sorry – here’s the real link:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSgPBIgXFRA&feature=youtu.be

    “When you’re in the middle of an outbreak, wearing a mask may make people feel better, but it is not providing the protection people think they are .. people fiddle with the mask and their face, which [spreads more disease]”.

    For those who continue pushing the lies, I’m happy to oblige with the truth .. for now. But I will ask you, how long does this parade last? I have other things to do, and a naked emperor is entertaining for only so long.

  9. grudznick

    Mr. Dale, do you still sport a mask at times when you are out and about Spearfish? Like at the Crow Peak brewery, or the fish hatchery park? Does anyone?

  10. Arlo Blundt

    Well..Mr. G. yes when I’m out and about I wear a mask…grocery store, theatre, post office.. The MD’s have told me if I get Covid, I die. Kinda leads you in that direction when you get that advice.

  11. Porter Lansing

    If wearing a medical mask didn’t work, hospital workers wouldn’t do it.

    They’re knowingly exposed to diseases continually and know what and what not to do.

    ~ Polling from our Axios-Ipsos Coronavirus Index, which started in March 2020, shows that respondents who reported never wearing masks were twice as likely to test positive for COVID as those who said they wore masks all the time, Axios managing editor David Nather writes.

    https://graphics.axios.com/2021-06-04-ipsos-covid/fallbacks/2021-06-04-ipsos-covid-fallback.png

  12. Whitless

    No one should be surprised that Kristi lied about masks. Her penchant for lying is well established. I wonder if her dishonest character has been a factor in the string of record departures from her administration.
    https://www.dakotanewsnow.com/2021/06/07/noems-office-sees-two-more-staff-departures/

    Unfortunately, too many people are willing to accept the pronouncements of non-experts instead of reading and listening to the analysis of scientists. The results of numerous scientific studies show that masks were helpful in limiting the spread of the virus.
    https://www.thelancet.com/journals/landig/article/PIIS2589-7500(20)30293-4/fulltext
    https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov/media/674/open
    https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2020/06/417906/still-confused-about-masks-heres-science-behind-how-face-masks-prevent
    https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02801-8
    https://www.pnas.org/content/118/4/e2014564118
    https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2776536
    https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/coronavirus-mask/art-20485449
    https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2021/05/19/science.abg6296

    Noem and other mask deniers point to the fact that the effectiveness of masks depended upon the type of mask and whether it was properly worn. But is this a valid reason for claiming that the evidence did not support mask wearing? Absolutely not. The evidence is overwhelming that masks were helpful. Noem chose her own political interests over the duty to protect the public, and it resulted in unnecessary deaths. That will be an indisputable and shameful part of her record.

  13. Grudz, he wears one when when he records, I’ve heard it.

  14. Joe

    I have fond memories of my stint at SD Boy’s State. Sad to hear Kovid Kristi wasted their time and insulted their intelligence this year.

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