62 thoughts on “Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken’s message on wearing masks”

  1. Huh .. I thought it was because you were a submissive globalist used as a mindless tool to push fascist anti-human technology.

    Go figure.

    “Vote for TenHaken for strong, independent conservative leadership for all South Dakotans.”

    *giggles*

    I know, right?

    😀

    1. Every time you speak against someone, it makes me like them a little more. I’d rather have a person who listens to scientists than one who fancies himself an expert in every category because he built a database.

      You are dumb, but fancy yourself a genius. It is a scary combo.

  2. July 13th. South Dakota had 25 new COVID cases. On that same day, I wrote the following on Dakota War College:

    “Bank on it. When our COVID numbers jump… and they will…. Kristi will wish she had asked us to wear masks.”

    Today’s new cases: 1,559.

    I am no Nostradamus. I just listen to legitimate medical professionals and epidemiologists. They warned us that this exact thing would happen, if we ignored medical science.

    But I guess Kristi Noem knows best.

    2. There is zero correlation between mask-wearing and prevention of Covid-19. States and cities with mask mandates are seeing the same rise and fall of positive cases as South Dakota. Same is true in Europe and other parts of the world.

      Meantime, 99.5% of those who test positive recover completely. Most cases are under 40 years old, and show few or no symptoms. Most deaths, sadly, are the elderly. The median age for deaths attributed to Covid-19 in South Dakota is over 80. Bottom line: The vast majority of people — and especially school children — are in no danger.

      Get a grip.

        1. God bless Cliff Hadley.

          Some of the deaths attributed to Covid-19 have other primary causes, but the people who are actually dying from it are essentially the same people who would have died from any other severe cold or flu virus.

          The elderly and infirm have been getting bumped off by viruses for centuries, but this is the first time we’ve tested so extensively and counted so liberally. The overall death rate in the U.S. this year is about the same as usual.

            1. Masks are useless if they are continually being touched by hands that are not clean. They are useless if they are not worn correctly, and which type of mask is actually effective? There are times when masks are useless. Only morons don’t do their research.

            2. Mr. Cunningham…

              Correlation matters in this case, when there’s devilishly little research on cause-and-effect of masks and viruses. What does exist is in hospital settings with the very best masks worn for limited times. The reality is as Anonymous at 1:26 writes, that most people wear filthy face coverings touched by dirty fingers and worn for many hours.

        1. No it’s not.
          We are on track for the same number of deaths nationally.
          The feats over 80 are tragic but weather it’s the flu, ammonia or many things that people die from at the end of their lives is just that. We all will die of something but not allowing people to support their families or get preventable checkups and treatments for curable diseases is as big or bigger tragedies. Both views are fine. No people in either camp are bad people.

  3. 3rd in death rate.
    2nd in positivity rate.
    That on top of our remoteness is pretty telling that the lack of mask wearing is having a profound effect on our numbers.
    Our testing is about the worst in the nation and we still have these numbers.
    Cliff up there apparently is just ok with the elderly dying off. If you’re over 80 you’re going to die soon anyway so what’s the diff!! If you’re under 80 and die from Covid it’s just natural selection so good riddance to you also. That’s some fine logic you have going on there!!
    Wear a mask and at least save someone else’s life!

    1. Anonymous at 6:04…

      It’s not my logic. It’s nature’s. Your sentimental views mean nothing to a virus. And please show the data that supports your statement that wearing a mask will “save someone else’s life.” I’ve searched all over, and all there is is junk science with non-existent correlation.

        1. Which type of mask does your link focus on? The most popular gators?

          I noticed this in your link…

          Although the aforementioned studies support the potential beneficial effect of masks, the substantial impact of masks on the spread of laboratory-diagnosed respiratory viruses remains controversial…

          Remains Controversial

  4. Some states that mandate masks have a one percent positive rate. Kristi has led South Dakota to somewhere over forty percent.

    Where on Earth do you get your “facts” from, Cliff?

    1. And the US has a death rate of 2.6 percent, Cliff. That is five times what you say.

      John’s Hopkins. Try that instead of Facebook.

      1. Elk…

        1. Positive rates and cases are largely meaningless. Rates of hospitalizations and deaths are what matter. And while the virus is predictably doing its damage, it’s not anywhere near overwhelming our medical capabilities.

        2. The stats I noted were for South Dakota, but they do extend nationally and worldwide. For example, from Worldometer the number of current worldwide positive Covid-19 tests are 11.4 million, but serious cases amount to 83,000, well under 1 percent. Yes, the Johns Hopkins figure for U.S. deaths is 2.5 percent of total cases to date, but the death rate nationally compared to current cases remains under 1 percent.

        My father was a small-town doc in Nebraska. He was also a former Marine — Iwo Jima and all — and Lutheran minister. He hated losing any patient, but was realistic about the elderly and those with chronic health problems. Viruses always cause respiratory problems and deaths within those groups. And there was nothing — repeat, nothing — he could do as a doctor, nor society could do overall, to change that fact. Not masks, not social distancing, not lockdowns — only each individual’s immune system can make the difference in beating a virus.

        That helps explain why my wife’s 103-year-old aunt survived the CV, but a 23-year-old Beadle County resident with underlying conditions didn’t.

        In other words, Elk, nature doesn’t give a damn how much you or the Sioux Falls mayor cares. Nor do I.

  5. South Dakota at 46% rate today, according to Johns Hopkins’ site. Kristi has us at number one!

    1. Getting Covid for most doesn’t matter.
      Not bring able to pay your mortgage and or feed your family does.
      Not getting to annual exams, preventative exams, mental health care and AA meetings does.

  6. Let’s replow this one more time.
    Masks do not prevent Chinese Coronavirus infections.
    WE CANNOT PREVENT CHINESE CORONAVIRUS INFECTIONS!!!
    If we all follow the CDC Guidelines perfectly,
    WE CANNOT PREVENT CHINESE CORONAVIRUS INFECTIONS!!!

    1. Good post, Mr. Randazzo. Might be too realistic and scientific for many, I’m afraid.

  7. From the very beginning we were told, if memory serves, around 80% of the state is projected to get the virus and measures should be taken to slow the spread so that the medical facilities could prepare and handle the projected influx of patients.

    I am so confused as to why we’re still surprised at the rising number of cases and running around with our hair on fire.

    I am equally confused as to why people think mandates can be put in place by the governor. From what I’ve been told by attorneys, some of whom work for the state, the governor is not given that power in the state constitution.

  8. A May 2020 meta-study on pandemic influenza published by the US CDC found that face masks had no effect, neither as personal protective equipment nor as a source control.

    A July 2020 review by the Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine found that there is no evidence for the effectiveness of cloth masks against virus infection or transmission.

    A Covid-19 cross-country study by the University of East Anglia found that a mask requirement was of no benefit and could even increase the risk of infection.

    An April 2020 review by two US professors in respiratory and infectious disease from the University of Illinois concluded that face masks have no effect in everyday life, neither as self-protection nor to protect third parties (so-called source control).

    An article in the New England Journal of Medicine from May 2020 came to the conclusion that cloth face masks offer little to no protection in everyday life.

    An April 2020 Cochrane review (preprint) found that face masks didn’t reduce influenza-like illness (ILI) cases, neither in the general population nor in health care workers.

    An April 2020 review by the Norwich School of Medicine (preprint) found that “the evidence is not sufficiently strong to support widespread use of facemasks”, but supports the use of masks by “particularly vulnerable individuals when in transient higher risk situations.”

    A July 2020 study by Japanese researchers found that cloth masks “offer zero protection against coronavirus” due to their large pore size and generally poor fit.

    A 2015 study in the British Medical Journal BMJ Open found that cloth masks were penetrated by 97% of particles and may increase infection risk by retaining moisture or repeated use.

    An August 2020 review by a German professor in virology, epidemiology and hygiene found that there is no evidence for the effectiveness of cloth face masks and that the improper daily use of masks by the public may in fact lead to an increase in infections.

    Many states that introduced mandatory face masks on public transport and in shops in spring, such as Hawaii, California, Argentina, Spain, France, Japan and Israel, saw a strong increase in infections from July onwards, indicating a low effectiveness of mask policies.

      1. Thank you, Cliff. You too provide helpful info. When researching any topic, I was told to use multiple sources. Why is that when listening to SF leaders they often only sight the CDC?

        During the ‘Mask Up SoDak’ conference, I heard a reporter ask why we see cases increasing in MN even though there have been mask mandates? I was curious about this and found an interesting source, Ration Ground – mask charts.

  9. The truth seems to be between mask mandates and no masks required which is common sense. Which is why we are so messed up on the matter: to be efficacious it takes COMMON sense.

    Wearing a mask driving in your car alone only makes you look like an idiot. Not wearing a N-95 mask when you will be in close contact to strangers for an extended period of time is a risk to yourself or others. There efficacy of a cloth mask or a gator is barely effective.

    But, here is the real lunacy of the debate above.

    1). Masks primarily effective in the event of a sneeze or cough. If you socially distance from strangers and there is no sneeze or cough, the risk of infection/spread is minuscule.

    2). Where you are and who you are with is a bigger risk. Yet, with all the emphasis on masks, if people are in masks, it gives an allusion of safety beyond this effectiveness. For instance, if a person sneezes into their arm instead of relying on the mask, aerosol spread is 4x less than what permeates the cloth mask and 2x less than what permeates the N95 mask.

    And, more than the above two in effectiveness in preventing spreads (besides staying home if you don’t feel good. I take my temperature two or more times a day to give an early warning):

    A). Good hygiene: Several months ago, I saw everyone using hand sanitizer all the time. Now, if I see it, seldom even from the people wearing a mask. Also, in my office building, in the beginning, when I washed my hands I didn’t have to wait for the water to get hot. Now I do.

    B). And most important, protect the vulnerable. Over half our deaths are people over 80 years old yet are only 5% of our cases. Covid kills 1 in ten of people over 80 who get it and 1 in 500 of people under 70 (most of whom are in their 60’s).

    I know it isn’t fair, but until we get herd immunity naturally or from a vaccine, the vulnerable have to take extraordinary precautions, including staying home almost exclusively. And, when they can’t, they have to identify themselves as vulnerable so we the non-vulnerable can contribute to their safety. Across the board actions or mandates is unrealistic and ineffective.

    1. So Troy, if I am running meals on wheels, is it safer for me to dawn/remove my mask each time I enter/leave the vehicle, or leave it on and don’t touch it between deliveries while cleansing my hands between each? Thanks for calling us volunteers idiots.

      1. Is it possible you remove the mask by only touching what keeps it around your ears and then place it in a plastic bag? Sure it is. Wearing a mask for extended periods of time could cause you to loose consciousness while behind the wheel from lack of oxygen and breathing in excessive carbon dioxide. Should other drivers be considered about you driving with a mask on?

        Some people are idiots, those idiots may be volunteers.

        1. It amazes me that people actually believe this. A mask that doesn’t keep a virus out, but keeps CO2 in and oxygen out. Brilliant!!

          1. I know, right? Journalists and police officers are some of our brightest. Here is some of what was reported…

            “A New Jersey driver crashed head-on into a pole — after passing out from wearing an N95 mask for hours, police said Friday. Lincoln Park police believe that the driver, who was not named, lost consciousness while behind the wheel Thursday from lack of oxygen and breathing in excessive carbon dioxide thanks to the mask”

  10. The key here is common sense as noted above. There are people who are asymptomatic or in the early stage of infection that randomly cough or sneeze with a heavy viral load spreading it to all around. Plus there are so many idiots that are convinced it’s just the common cold or whatever else running around mask-less only to find out later that they did in fact have Covid. If everyone is wearing a mask in public that will cut down on the spread of infections. Note I didn’t say stop because too many people want to argue they 100 percent work or 100 percent don’t.
    I don’t believe in mandates and would strongly speak out on one because when people are “told” they become defensive and resist but I for the life of me don’t understand what is wrong with our leaders not promoting their use? It’s no imposition and it helps whether you want to argue very little or a lot!

    2. Your last sentence suggests masks are like chicken soup — can’t hurt, may help. The problem is, the mask issue has been sold by the politicized medical community and many politicians quite differently, that masks are all the difference between living and dying. And they take the next step, accusing those who don’t wear masks as evil souls who want to kill their neighbors. Those are lies worth fighting.

      BTW, just to be clear, I’m pro-vaccines and will be first in line to take the Covid dope.

  11. The data doesn’t lie.

    South Dakota, at 0.90%, has the 5th lowest COVID-19 Case Fatality Rate (CFR) in the nation.

    South Dakota has tested nearly 30% of it’s total population (259,532 of 893,922 (2020 Estimated population))

    Data Sources: WHO, CDC, ECDC, USA Population 2020

    According to the CDC, the death rate for those people infected with COVID is minuscule. Most young people are under greater threat from the seasonal flu. Most healthy people under seventy having nothing to fear from this virus.

    We need to protect the most vulnerable and aged people in nursing homes, but the rest of us need to be back to work, school, and play. We can’t live our lives in perpetual fear of death.

    The lasting impact of the shutdowns is going to be more severe for most people in this country than the lasting impact of COVID.

    We’ve made the cure worse than the disease.

    https://www.realclearpolitics.com/coronavirus/country/united-states/?fbclid=IwAR1mwVkUs09E_seNWGI3kaIoLvPJAq8HQVB4Gqe9ptdDflMEUv6x9UcLVbc

    1. With all the information and sources cited, why do you think the mayor/doctors/community leaders stay focused only on the CDC and mandating?

        1. I agree. There is absolutely no group in history who has gone from highly respected to ignored than the medical “profession.”

          Your reputation is a persons currency and they have made it less valuable than the German Mark post WWI.

    2. First, your data is a running average and not the current situation. We had a great head start with our remoteness. October statistics has us amoungst the highest in the nation for death rates and positivity.
      Second, this debate on this thread isn’t about lockdowns it’s about masks which if used would help prevent the need for lockdowns.

      1. There is no need for either masks or “lockdowns”.

        Neither measure stops the virus, they may only slow it down.

        1. “South Dakota has the nation’s fifth-lowest Covid-19 fatality rate.”

          “Not in October!!”

          So the vulnerable in other states tended to die sooner. What’s your point?

  12. PS. There is an Avera doc who I will subsidize the malpractice lawsuits against him. Stupid and cowardly are a combination for death.

  13. Food for thought…take this medical opinion as you will. I’m not a medical expert but the New England Journal of Medicine is a reputable source.
    https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2006372

    “What is clear, however, is that universal masking alone is not a panacea. A mask will not protect providers caring for a patient with active Covid-19 if it’s not accompanied by meticulous hand hygiene, eye protection, gloves, and a gown. A mask alone will not prevent health care workers with early Covid-19 from contaminating their hands and spreading the virus to patients and colleagues. Focusing on universal masking alone may, paradoxically, lead to more transmission of Covid-19 if it diverts attention from implementing more fundamental infection-control measures.”

  14. The WHO has information available too…

    The use of masks made of other materials (e.g., cotton fabric), also known as nonmedical masks, in the community setting has not been well evaluated. There is no current evidence to make a recommendation for or against their use in this setting.

    The likely disadvantages/potential harms of the use of mask by healthy people in the general public include:
    • potential increased risk of self-contamination due to the manipulation of a face mask and subsequently touching eyes with contaminated hands;(48, 49)
    • potential self-contamination that can occur if nonmedical masks are not changed when wet or soiled. This can create favourable conditions for microorganism to amplify;
    • potential headache and/or breathing difficulties, depending on type of mask used;
    • potential development of facial skin lesions, irritant dermatitis or worsening acne, when used frequently for long hours;(50)
    • difficulty with communicating clearly;
    • potential discomfort;(41, 51)
    • a false sense of security, leading to potentially lower adherence to other critical preventive measures such as physical distancing and hand hygiene;
    • waste management issues; improper mask disposal leading to increased litter in public places, risk of contamination to street cleaners and environment hazard;
    • difficulty communicating for deaf persons who rely on lip reading;
    • disadvantages for or difficulty wearing them, especially for children, developmentally challenged persons, those with mental illness, elderly persons with cognitive impairment, those with asthma or chronic respiratory or breathing problems, those who have had facial trauma or recent oral maxillofacial surgery, and those living in hot and humid environments.

    I assume the SF city council will address the potential risks in the reading of a mask mandate.

  15. Oh no, potential discomfort…wow. Such snowflakes. Just wear the damn thing until there’s a vaccine.

    1. No, looks to me like many people question if there is any benefit to wearing a mask and find that it’s not working. Did you read what the WHO listed as potential dangers that come with wearing them? You may take dangerous risks without question and that’s you’re choice, but some will not.

      Do you know the percentage of people who have said they will not be taking the vaccine?

        1. It’s actually quite easy to copy and paste. I was able to do it for all the information provided. The mask chart was most interesting to me.

  16. The quote above from NE Journal of Medicine since the beginning of the forcus on masks: we are distracting discussion and focus from the most efficacious mitigation efforts and the “mask=caring” virtue signaling insures less compliance on washing hands.

    Today I was in Menards which requires masks. While sitting in the bathroom, ten people came and went. Not a single person washed his hands for more than five seconds and I am not sure any used soap. But we are wearing masks. Stupid.

    The mask nazis are killing people.

    1. Could the SF council mandate residents wash their hands? Maybe mandate wearing goggles in public places both inside and out?

      Are you going to attend the meeting? I think you should.

      Any thoughts on Soehl’s comment about shaming people?

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