CORONAVIRUS: South Dakota Gov. Noem, who opposed stay-home order, now faces coronavirus hot spot
Category: News & Politics
Via: krishna • 4 years ago • 52 commentsBy: Dareh Gregorian
At first a lot of Republicans were engaging in much self-righteous finger pointing at urban, heavily populated and heavily Democratic areas. But what they failed to realized that of course those densely populated areas would experience a more rapid spread of the virus-- but that less densely populated areas were at risk as well/
(its just that it would take longer to spread in more rural areas)
Related Seed:
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South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem speaks with reporters in Pierre on March, 5, 2020. Stephen Groves / AP file
Despite an outbreak in South Dakota's biggest city and criticism that there's no statewide shelter-in-place order, Gov. Kristi Noem said Wednesday the state is doing better than expected and "bending the curve."
"We have cut our peak, and that's a good thing, and that is encouraging to all of us," Noem said at a news briefing. "Our health care system can handle what's coming at us."
Noem, a Republican, made her remarks as the number of people who've tested positive for the coronavirus in the state rose to 1,168, in large part because of a cluster of cases stemming from a meat processing plant in Sioux Falls. There have been six deaths in the state.
Scott Gottlieb, President Donald Trump's former head of the Food and Drug Administration, expressed concern about the state's numbers.
"South Dakota has become one of the fastest growing hot spots in U.S., even as other parts of nation see their epidemics start to level off or slow. South Dakota has a doubling time now of about 4 days. In the setting of the ongoing national epidemic, every state is vulnerable," he tweeted .
"South Dakota has become one of the fastest growing hot spots in U.S.. ...but not to worry, as several gov't officials (as well as trump himself) said early on in the Pandemic "Its under control"!
Um... SD is a "hot spot" becuase of an outbreak in a meat processing plant, an essential industry in any state. "Shelter in place" orders would not have made any difference.
Well, thank goodness that all the people in that plant can't spread it to other people they come in contact with-- because everyone knows that people in essential industries are exempt from being contagious!
They are exempt from spreading it to others... such as such as family members when they go home..or their kids who can't become "carriers" when they go to school... or people in stores they visit...etc.
Whoops...I somehow "inadvertently" forgot to mention that comment 3. 1 was meant as sarcasm...
Oh.. IT's like you don't understasnd that the "hot spot" such as it is, would have developed in any case becuase the shelter in place rules wouldn't have applied.
But by all means, show some evidence that it's spread beyond the employees and their family members who live with them at a rate greater than its spread in states with strict rules.
That is a risk, offsetting your benefit of not having to eat grass.
Every state needs to have stay at home orders and adjust accordingly or these goddamned fools defying all common sense are going to continue to keep spreading it.
Speaking of fools, my governor has now decided to start opening back up on Monday.
Even though cases are still on the rise.
He is a complete idiot though, some call him trump lite.
The ISSUE is that the 'rules' didn't require social distancing in the plant nor did the company take the PROACTIVE move to initiate social distancing practices. Sure the company would have less production BUTT it could have saved lives, mitigated the spread of the virus AND allowed the plant to stay open.
Exactly! The governor is doing the right thing as I just seeded as this was being seeded.
Quarantining should be delayed or minimized where it's reasonable to do so. If you think zero infections is an achievable standard at this point, I think you're living in Fantasyland. We need to keep as much of our economy functioning for as long as we reasonably can. We shut things down to keep from being overwhelmed.
No one is saying that zero cases is possible in an area.
So I take it therefore that you don't agree with people who insist quaranteening be done when its "unreasonable" to do so?
One does try to be reasonable.
Is it reasonable to expect sufficient testing be made available to "know" that things are under control rather than guess?
At this stage? Apparently not, since most places in the world are not testing as much as they would like.
Since there are nowhere near enough tests. 3 million for 300 million some people
You claim you have me on ignore before, so let's see how true that is...
Here is a hypothetical...
you went to get tested and are not showing any symptoms, and the test came back negative. Good for you..
You then go to the grocery store that day and unwittingly come across someone who is asymptomatic, but is an active carrier. That person randomly coughs once, no big deal, we all do it, but you might have been close enough to be affected by it and become infected.
You, in a few days, with no symptoms, are now a carrier because you think because you tested negative a few days before, and continue to infect those around you.
What was the purpose for you getting tested again?
I think we'd all like to see as much testing as possible, but as bugsy correctly points out, it's not much use for controlling spread in a population unless you can test everyone every day.
There's another problem, though: There are many different types of test out there and they have varying degrees of accuracy. I don't think any are considered to be 100% accurate.
Now, in a study where you don't mind factoring in margins for error, that's ok. But for an individual, you want to know for sure.
Nobody in the world is meeting either the standard to test everyone on every day or even one at 100% accuracy.
If they think that being in a rural area is going to keep them safe, they really have no idea what is happening. Noem is experiencing it now and is Nebraska and a few other states.
The Navajo reservation is 27,413 square miles with a population of 156,823...It's the size of West Virginia who has a population of 1,792,000. Over 11 times the population of the Navajo reservation.
The first confirmed case on the rez was March 17th. Exactly 30 days later over 900 cases with 30 known deaths.
Being in the middle of nowhere isn't any protection.
Additionally, hospitals in rural areas are not equipped to handle an outbreak of the virus.
It seems there's only one real difference in rural areas-- in most cases it will start to spread more slowly. (It should be no surprise that NY has the most cases to date-- its the most densely populated and most other densey populated areas do as well.because of all the close contact everyday, it spread in those areas rapidly in the beginning.
But it will also spread in rural areas-- just begin a bit later. which is what is happening.
My guess is that within a week or two the # of new cases will skyrocket in rural areas...
Smithfield just closed two more processing plants, one in Missouri and one in Cudahy WI. Tyson foods closed one Columbia Junction IA....These are not huge populations centers.
In Sioux Falls plant 3 have died and 126 persons that have come into contact with the 518 that tested positive have come down with the virus. How many more have those 126 come into contact with?
There's no cure for Stuck on Stupid.
And while by no means are all mid-westerners stupid...there's some of that going around in other areas as well:
Nebraska Mall Plans To Reopen Despite Climbing Virus Cases
The mall plans to reopen April 24, which would be roughly the same time state officials expect the number of Nebraska coronavirus cases to peak.
Grand Island is already a hot spot in NE and 10 workers in a meat plant in Hastings NE just tested positive for the virus. Hasting is south of Grand Island.
Neither of those areas is a major population center.
Yep, South Dakota should have imposed stay-at-home restrictions and allowed New York to starve.
New York treats rural states, such as South Dakota, like third world countries. And now South Dakota has to compete with New York for basic supplies. Why doesn't New York send PPE and ventilators to South Dakota now? New York has always displayed an 'I got mine' attitude when pointing fingers at the rest of the country. That's an endearing characteristic of New York.
Yes, people in South Dakota will die because New York needed support. But the people in South Dakota don't really matter for anything other than 'I got mine' socializing over New York cocktails.
You do realize that New York is more than NYC, right? Much of our state is rural & has many farms that supply a lot of local organic produce and meat.
Starve? What nonsense huh?
And you know this exactly how? BTW.... NY just sent Maryland and Michigan a bunch of ventilators.
How does that help South Dakota? The Smithfield pork processing plant that has been closed is located in Aberdeen, South Dakota. You do know that the 3M plant producing N95 masks is also located in Aberdeen, South Dakota?
Enjoy the political finger pointing. Just don't expect South Dakota to continue sacrificing itself to save New York's ass. You folks are on your own, now.
You don't even recognize the error in your own comment there Nerm. You post strongly insinuated that those in New York don't give a shit about anyone but themselves. S.D...... anyone.
I can promise you this.... SD is more likely to align itself with libertarian thinking that the state of New York is, and there is no way around the facts that libertarianism is all about "me first" thinking.
I am not insinuating anything. I am bluntly stating that New York doesn't give a shit about anyone but themselves. New York is the financial center of the world, after all.
Now that New York has gained some control over spread of the virus, it's time to talk about reopening the economy. As if the economy depends upon New York. How does that display any concern over what's happening elsewhere? New York got its own; to hell with everyone else.
Will New York continue lock down until the rest of the country gains some control of the spread of the virus? Hell, no. Why should what is happening in South Dakota affect New York? Except New York still needs N95 masks. But let's not let the details get in the way. Andy Cuomo can just bitch and moan to get what New York wants. As long as New York gets there's then all is good.
Cuomo extended the shut down or whatever you want to call it until May 15th.
He did the right thing
Here in WNY things are still bad and people are still dying.
I live in Erie County and these are the numbers as of 2:10
104 coronavirus related deaths, 1,951 cases
No, it isn't located in Aberdeen, it's located in Sioux Falls at 1400 N Weber Ave. Sioux Falls SD 57103
Aberdeen is 200 plus miles from Sioux Falls.
How is SD sacrificing itself? Are you aware that Smithfield just closed a plant in WI and one MO? Are WI and MO sacrificing themselves for NY?
How about Tyson Foods, they closed their plant in Columbia Junction IA. Are they sacrificing themselves for NY as well?
You are correct and I was wrong. The Smithfield pork processing plant is located in Sioux Falls, SD, and not in Aberdeen, SD, as I thought.
Welcome to 3M Aberdeen
Smithfield Foods To Close Sioux Falls, SD Plant Indefinitely Amid COVID-19
According to the Bing COVID-19 tracker either South Dakota has managed spread of the virus very well or the extent of infections in South Dakota are unknown.
COVID-19 tracker - South Dakota
One of Smithfield’s employees died today from Coronavirus.
The virus is just starting to hit SD. The Smithfield plant was the first big hot spot. They started following up on those people as of a couple of days ago found that another 126 people that were exposed to the Smithfield workers are now positive. You are going to see an increase in both confirmed cases and death in SD in the coming weeks/months,
I have friends and relatives that live in Rapid City and on the Cheyenne River reservation so I'm kept fairly well up to date on the situation in both SD and ND.
My wife's family lives in NY, mostly on Long Island and some in Brooklyn and I've never heard or felt them look down on anyone or feel that they are a ''me first'' population.
Smithfield only closed the plant because of the mayor of Sioux Falls forcing their hand.
The number of confirmed cases at the plant is now at 644.
Oh, after the first cases were confirmed the company offered $500 bonuses for anyone that didn't miss a shift. The one death to date is one that needed the money and kept going to work.
Just starting in North Dakota too. Today was the single largest new cases yet. The CDC and National Guard were in Grand Forks today and tested over four hundred employees at LM wind power ...they have a number of new cases as well. It is just starting to hit the interior of the country like it already has the coasts.
That's not surprising. I'm sure that the interior of the country will be hit hard in the very near future.
He may even extend that date but that should keep some people happy for now. I think that's too soon to really even relax restrictions.
So what was the 'financial' upside of NY sending ventilators to other states? Please be specific.
Is the opposite the exact justification that SD's Governor used? Why should what's happening in NY effect SD? Why should SD have social distancing just because NY does?
That has to do with the Federal disaster declaration and how emergency management funds are shuffled around. You actually think New York is going to give away ventilators?
I agree that it is too early to relax the rules.
Bullshit. The ventilators from the Feds go back to the SNS. You actually think that the Feds gave away ventilators?
NO, I actually KNOW that NY is LOANING ventilators to other states, like NJ, Maryland and Michigan.
Smithfield Foods - An essential service ?
"The Sioux Falls facility is one of the largest pork processing plants in the U.S.. It supplies nearly 130 million servings of food per week, or about 18 million servings per day."
I like my KC style BBQ ribs......I hate to freeze them, but the tongue wants what the tongue wants. I guess I could cut down on my beer intake to cover the rise in cost.....
Junk food junkies like "McDonalds" processed rib sandwich......since high school !
Okay, I think everyone is missing the big item here, there is a city in South Dakota?
There is a city in North Dakota?
Are the Dakotas even inhabited?
Ha. I would say ask the natives but I don't think they have much pull.