Governor Noem’s Senior Advisor & Policy Director on USA Today Article – “unbelievably bad journalism.”

@SoDakCampaigns

Maggie Seidel, Governor Kristi Noem’s Senior Advisor & Policy Director is back again pointing out some of the nonsense that Governor Kristi Noem is facing from the media, this time from USA today.

In an e-mail sent out this morning to state media, Seidel points out the error of their ways, and details how USA Today is manipulating the data to match the story they want to write, as opposed to what’s happening:

Folks – Over the weekend, we were all privy to more unbelievably bad journalism.

“The Dakotas are ‘as bad as it gets anywhere in the world’ for Covid-19” Joel Shannon of USA Today wrote.

The facts tell a very different story, but Joel Shannon wouldn’t let the facts get in the way of his fictional storytelling.

Let’s start with the profoundly untrue headline. No, the Dakotas aren’t as bad as it gets anywhere in the world. In fact, the entire United States doesn’t break the top 10 list for deaths (per 100,000) globally.

Then, inside the US, if we look at the death rate (per 100,000) as of November 16th:

  1. New Jersey – 187
  2. New York – 175
  3. Massachusetts – 150
  4. Connecticut – 133
  5. Louisiana – 132

North Dakota is 8th on the list at 97.

South Dakota is 17th on the list at 73 – lower than the overall US death rate per 100,000.

Some more facts…

The world is seeing a rise in cases. The Midwest – not only North and South Dakota, but also Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and many others – is also seeing cases rise. It is inaccurate to suggest that the virus is primarily hitting North Dakota and South Dakota. And there’s zero science – yes, zero – to support the claim that South Dakota is seeing a rise in cases because Governor Noem won’t issue a mask mandate or other harsh restrictions.

Illinois health officials reported 10,631 new cases, and 72 deaths on Sunday. Illinois has had a mask mandate for everyone over the age of 2 since May 1.

Minnesota health officials reported a record 8,703 new cases and 35 new deaths on Saturday. Minnesota’s mask mandate has been in place since July 25.

Wisconsin health officials reported more than 5,100 new cases and 52 more deaths on Saturday. Wisconsin’s mask mandate has been in place since August 1.

In addition to mask mandates, these states also have very restrictive “regulations,” which Joel Shannon and his source laud. Joel Shannon suggests to the reader that if only the Dakotas had been smarter and more proactive, a case spike could have been avoided. Joel Shannon makes no mention of all the other states and countries – with said restrictions – spiking. Instead, we are left with the obviously, intentional misimpression that the Dakotas have failed while the rest of the world, per the headline, has succeeded in stemming the pandemic.

This reporting from the USA Today is grossly irresponsible and totally dishonest.

South Dakota health officials reported 1,100 new cases and 23 new deaths on Sunday. Every death is tragic, but to imply that South Dakota is somehow unique is totally false.

The facts are simple: mask mandates, harsh lockdowns, massive testing and contact tracing haven’t worked – in the United States or abroad.

By September, we knew lockdowns didn’t contain the virus’ spread and reopening didn’t drive a second wave of infections. Germany was supposed to have the best testing and contact tracing in the world, but their strategies did not stop this next wave, either.

Since so few will present all the raw data, here’s where things stand in South Dakota. We’ve had roughly 63k positives tests since March. Today, there are about 18k active cases. And 644 have died. We have 560 in the hospital – about 20% of our hospital capacity is Covid-related, 43% is non-Covid-related, and 36% of our beds are available. It’s important to note that this data says nothing about who is in the hospital with Covid versus from Covid.

Instead of telling a story about the Dakotas also battling the pandemic, what we got this weekend from the USA Today was yet another perfect example of media manipulation. They present carefully selected facts without context and assemble an argument that would fall apart completely if the whole truth was offered. They confidently declare science “settled” that is still open to interpretation and has been under constant revision all year. Then, they use that argument to make wild accusations against public officials and principles of governance that they obviously disagree with.

Here’s what we know today. No place is doing better or worse with the virus in a way that quantifiably relates to restrictions – a one-size-fits-all approach remains elusive. But the media continues to push the narrative that you’re crazy if you don’t lock down your state. Those lockdowns cause untold suffering. And never mind that we cannot prove any real benefit in terms of public health.

Some in the media continue to suggest the public cannot be trusted to make rational decisions based on the available information.  So, we must do what “expert” public officials say and rely on their modeling as if it were gospel, even as they constantly change their minds and as the results fail to match their predictions. Again, manipulation.

States that have had much harsher restrictions than South Dakota are suffering spikes and greater fatality rates at the same time. South Dakota’s case-fatality rate is the 7th lowest in the country. Moreover, there are negative side effects for public health, mental health, education, and the economy associated with strict measures like mandates and lockdowns. Public officials have a duty to provide information to the people, and private individuals must weigh the costs and benefits on both sides of the equation. South Dakota’s Governor Kristi Noem has done this better than any Governor in America.

Remember, there’s public debate and then there’s media manipulation and the enforcement of quasi-religious dogma that has little basis in reality.  USA Today engaged in the latter.

Stay well.
-Maggie

Maggie Seidel
Senior Advisor & Policy Director
Office of Governor Kristi Noem

And there you have the rest of the story.

74 thoughts on “Governor Noem’s Senior Advisor & Policy Director on USA Today Article – “unbelievably bad journalism.””

  1. I appreciate this story A LOT! I saw the headline “as bad as it gets anywhere in the world” and I read the article with great interest. I, too, was amazed at the complete lack of data used to justify the claim. If I recall, the article used anecdotal evidence regarding staffing shortages at hospitals. I am a small business owner and staffing shortages in professional fields in SD to me have always seemed a bit difficult to fill, so using that info to prove a theory on the pandemic? Oh boy.

    “No place is doing bettor or worse with the virus in a way that quantifiably relates to restrictions.” BINGO. I have no doubt covid is real, and I’m willing to accept that the use of PPE has an impact on transmission. HOWEVER, where is the data that shows massive lockdowns work? The crazy thing about the comparison to New York is this, if lockdowns worked, NY would be significantly better than SD, but its worse! If SD even TIES with other states under lockdown, that too destroys the lockdown thesis. The ONLY way the lockdown thesis works is if SD looks like a third world county, hence the USA Today Article.

    On top of the lack of evidence on the efficacy of lockdowns, you need to consider children and education, overall mental health, and yes the economy. When it comes to the best way to handle this pandemic, the answer is clear, Governor Noem is exactly right!

  2. It’s obvious that some places are doing much better than South Dakota no matter how Governor Noem or her spokesperson decide to spin it. Facts are hard things to get out from under when they don’t conform to one’s pre-determined narrative.

    Let’s compare to geographies that can’t be more different, yet are nearly the same in population: the State of South Dakota and the City of San Francisco. San Francisco is a densly packed city while SD registers something like 11 people per sq. mi. Few places are a conservative as South Dakota and few if any city in America is as famously liberal as San Francisco. Yet something is going right for San Francisco when it comes to addressing the pandemic.

    San Francisco’s total cases are reported as 13,757, while South Dakota is actually 66,278. Deaths for San Francisco is at 156, while in SD, deaths are 644. For the last 7 days, San Francisco reported cases at 772 and 5 deaths, while we in SD saw 9,967 cases and 107 deaths. That doesn’t look like a good trend no matter what your propaganda machine says about “too many tests”.

    So much for following an approach that is best suited for our particular state. It’s obvious that Governor Noem has very little interest in doing anything to fight this pandemic that does not fit neatly with her particular political narrative that is overtly ambitious and directed toward a national audience. She might get more mileage outside of the hardcore MAGA crowd if she simply modeled a behavior that was thoughtful of those around her and was seen wearing a mask in crowded setttings.

    She now owns her failures. Facts will not change nor be kind to her continued line of propaganda.

    1. The air in the Dakotas becomes much cooler and drier in the fall than the air in San Francisco. This is the way severe cold and flu viruses always spread.

      Governor Noem really isn’t to blame for the fact that South Dakotans don’t live farther south and adjacent to the Pacific Ocean.

      #FeelFreeToMoveThere
      #Science

      1. Why bother blasting this person (loosely defined) with reason? Some people have no concept of science.

    2. So, do you support a mask mandate and a shut down that has proven in the past to not work? The article mentions the increases in other Midwestern states that have had mask mandates for some time. Even in that little town of Brookings, they have had a mask mandate and are now extending the mandate until the end of the year. If the mandate had worked, they would not need it. So now that we know what does not work, just what has Governor Noem not done that you believe she should have done?

    3. “It’s obvious that some places are doing much better than South Dakota…” Yes, and it’s also obvious that some places are doing far worse than South Dakota. We’re the only state without massive lockdowns and mandates, and if the lockdown thesis spun by the media were correct we would be bottom of the barrel, not middle of the pack!

      1. And yet the state’s economy isn’t better before or after the pandemic, it’s just ho-humming a long. Has the state’s economy done exceptionally well since Governor Noem took office? I don’t think so. I don’t think she’s really done anything at all to improve access to business ownership, she hasn’t really done anything to promote or push on the job training, or tech education, she really hasn’t done much to enhance small businesses here in the state. It’s just more of the same.

        Bring back Janklow – that man could lead.

        1. You’ve strayed from the conversation. Come back. We’re talking about whether massive government lockdowns prevent the spread of covid. We can certainly talk about the overall health of SD’s economy, but that’s not the issue here.

          1. Not at all – and the conversation about a government shutdown certainly includes the economic impacts to the state itself. Maybe you shouldn’t be so granular in your review.

  3. Aren’t they just delaying the inevitable?
    Wasn’t the original measurement not over loading hospitals?
    Why did it change?
    Will will be dealing with this for years?
    The financial toll and psychological toll?
    The missed Dr visits thus not catching the curable diseases?
    Financial ruin
    Why aren’t the death rates measurably higher?
    Why does the left in response to anything different then the group think that those that see it different say you don’t believe in science?
    The above is the worst. Science is discovery and constantly changing as we learn. Many competing thought on this.

    1. I don’t know if you have noticed, but deaths from other diseases have gone way down and overall deaths have not gone up. Perhaps most of the people who have died from this disease were bound to die anyway from something else?

        1. Looked at South Dakota’s weekly average and we exceeded it significantly only five weeks out of the first 10 months of this year. So, yes, overall deaths are not up for 2020.

          1. Weird how that works, right? Check the totals. Y’all are saying that just because we got 200′ of snow in March but didn’t get any the rest of the year, that somehow we’re below normal.

            1. Only this isn’t 200 inches of snow. Excess deaths, even in the last two months, barely beat the expected average. So the choice is, who do I believe? You? Or my lying eyes?

                1. Relying on memory here, but South Dakota’s weekly average is 154 deaths for this time of year and the excess was 29 to 30 for four weeks, not consecutive. Otherwise, it’s down for the year. I think you’re looking at the national figure.

  4. It’s been worse than just “delaying the inevitable.” Nearly everything the so-called experts told us to do during the spring and summer actually led to a weakening of our general immunity.

    Sunlight, exercise, fresh air, and human interaction are good for a person’s overall health and immunity. Fear and stress are bad for them.

    #Science

  5. I wonder why I never see these statistics and two facts (#5 & #6):

    1) South Dakota has a Death/Hospitalization of 17.4% vs. the nation’s of 45.9%.

    2) South Dakota’s Death/Case (Case Fatality Rate) is .97% vs the nations of 2.18%.

    3) South Dakota’s Hospital Beds are 20% occupied by Covid patients and we have 36% of the Hospital beds available. Most states in the nation would like to have these numbers.

    4) South Dakota has bounced back better from the early economic shutdown impacts than every state except Nebraska. Unemployment and economic dislocation has a negative impact on mental health, child nutrition, dependency relapses, suicides, child/spouse abuse, etc. It is myopic to only measure Covid statistics without considering other things which might in the aggregate exceed covid mitigation.

    5) This is a virus. Up until we get a vaccine, infections/cases were going to occur overtime because locking people down is not sustainable. What was manageable was who got infected (elderly/vulnerable or healthy) and when there were infected so as not to overload hospitalization.

    6) South Dakota entered its Covid spike/surge in the middle of September and it is continuing now two months later. Because most surge/spikes start and finish over 30 days, those states experienced a much harder stress on hospitals than we have experienced.

    My point: Assessing states handling of Covid is impossible to do until the final verdict is done. Further, ultimately the job will also be assessed on the impact of our covid mitigation strategies on the poor, those with mental health problems, substandard education during closed schools for those who don’t have a parent capable to assist with distance teaching, live in dysfunctional families, suicides, have addiction challenges (all of whom have been disproportionately hurt by our covid mitigation strategies). For instance, a Covid death of an 80 year-old with a co-morbidity and a remaining life expectancy of a year is not equal to the death by suicide of a single mom overwhelmed by the impact on income, family life, etc. because of the covid mitigation strategies. The real tragedy is not only are we not treating these deaths as equal, we aren’t even considering these deaths as a adverse consequence of our Covid strategies.

    There will be plenty of time for a post-mortem. Today, let’s just figure out the best things to do over the next few months which fairly consider all public health challenges and not just Covid.

    Sidebar: South Dakota is the 23rd oldest state in the country. California is 45th. Since Covid is especially nasty for the elderly, the outcomes need to be normalized for this difference which may make a comparison with San Francisco not appropriate.

    2. You can’t compare the economy of south dakota against a majority of the states because the economy isn’t that robust. You can’t even compare South Dakota to the surrounding states. We won’t really know anything until cattle sails start to begin, until the end of the winter to see what storage numbers for ag is doing, and markets from commodities across the board.

      More of the surrounding states just deal with other markets, whereas south dakota’s major economic industry is Ag – which is always a season behind when reporting numbers.

  6. I can’t wait for my 85 year old mom to take one of those available NICU beds. Noem, Maggie, Mr. Fury and Troy better be careful continually spiking the ball.

    1. Your 85 year old mom should be protected. I suggest if you have not done so already move her into your home and help care for her like she did for you when you were young. Keep her at home, don’t let her go to a store, keep her from church, don’t take her to a restaurant, don’t allow people into your home, etc. You’re welcome.

    2. That is such a bunk argument about people not caring for the Elderly because we don’t want to crush our society by wearing a mask and locking us down. Its this new thing called personal responsibility, maybe you heard of it. I bet your Grandma has as she grew up in an age where they didn’t believe in the nanny state saving you from everything. My parents are elderly and know during flu season and during this pandemic they need to wash their hands well and maybe chill a little on going out in crowded areas. The cure cannot be worse than the disease. We can’t live in fear forever and stay huddled in our house. I find it appawling that everyone forgets while some of us have the abiltiy to work from home and stay all bundled up and coddled in our house, the backbone of our nation has to go out and weather this pandemic. Truck drivers, construction workers, plumbers, electricians, Drs, Nurses, Police Officers, the folks and Mcdonalds you SAFELY get your Quaterpounder from, etc. Life cannot stop and we really really need to be careful on restricting liberties because somehting bad happens, thats how you end up Venezuala or Russia

  7. I don’t know that I would change the tactics the governor is using (other than showing more empathy and less defiance), but her office is trying to mislead us a little. I did not read the article, but I assume it stated that during the previous week or weeks, our rate per 100,000 is very high. The gov’s spokesperson is going back to the rate since the start of the pandemic. Two very different things. Current NJ and NY rates are very low compared to our CURRENT rates. Statistics can say whatever you want them to say. Let’s at least be honest about the current state of the situation and pray that herd immunity kicks in soon. We are testing at 1-2 percent of the population getting Covid each week, so eventually we will run out of people to expose.

    1. Current New Jersey and New York rates are lower because the people most vulnerable to exposure in those states were already exposed, so they’ve either developed COVID-19 immunity or died. Comparing current rates is much more misleading than comparing rates since the disease was first identified.

        1. The comment at 1:42 was mine. I’m impressed with Maggie Seidel’s writings, but I’m not she, and for the sake of her family and our state, I hope she’s nowhere near this blog at 1:42 a.m.

      2. This is statistically a very important point to always go back to the origin of the virus.

        Like all viruses which provide immunity (Covid clearly does or we’d have many repeat infections AND, MOST IMPORTANTLY, we’d not have the announcements on vaccines because vaccines mimic natural immunity (no natural immunity means no vaccination immunity)), the experience of a spike or surge by definition reduces the pool of available future infections AND creates impediments to future spread as there are less future receptive hosts to the virus.

    2. We need to look at this from all angles. NY would love it if we only considered the numbers from the last couple weeks, then they could forget about the horrendous policy of forcing the elderly back into nursing facilities after testing positive for covid. Plus, every other state has dealt with spikes; if we take you’re approach, then we’ll be “ping-pong”ing from one policy to another with no clear view of what’s working.

      1. No one is arguing that NY was a dumpster fire early on. That’s the point. Call a spade a spade.

        I’m not calling for crazy policy changes, just to acknowledge a reality that currently exists. The parents who are home schooling and the people that are caring for their elderly parents or holding unattended funerals for them would certainly appreciate us all being on the same page that this isn’t normal life and we should do what we feel is best for ourselves and our family, whether that is social distancing, wearing a mask, or whatever. Or not. But acknowledge the situation as challenging instead of fighting every wink of bad press that is out there.

        1. I agree we should be honest about the pandemic, but to say that Gov Noem and republicans have been subject to “bad press” is a gross understatement. Bad press is failing to confirm with two sources. Bad press is giving one’s critics ample space while allowing little to no rebuttal. The USA Today article wasn’t bad press, it was a hit piece based on fiction.

  8. I’m not going to quote statistics. Maggie Seidel has shined a light on those today to put them in proper perspective in response to Joel Shannon’s hit piece on Governor Noem. Not to be upstaged, Stephen Groves unleashed his own salvo today. Both seem to have an unbridled hate for Governor Noem and both never miss an opp to smear, smudge or denigrate her. Issues are just tools to take another shot at her and they love to portray her as uncaring, disliked and failing.
    The Kristi Noem I know cares deeply for South Dakotans, their health, their freedom and their economic well being. Everything she has done since the arrival of the CHINESE CORONAVIRUS ( I never use the moniker “Covid -19” to remind myself of the origin of this viral pandemic) has been to protect South Dakotans. From the flattening of the curve of infections to assure that our medical assets were sufficiently available, to the defense of your personal freedoms, to the freedom to operate your business and to keep South Dakota economically stable and responsible, she has stood for all South Dakotans.
    That caring and focus has made her a popular successful Governor regardless of what the fiction writers Shannon and Groves try to sell us.

    2. The Kristi Noem I know leaves the State during a major pandemic to help someone campaign and then when that person loses she spouts off utterly ridiculous ideas of a rigged election. The Kristi Noem I know takes advice from carpetbagger Cory Lewandowski. Her aspirations for a national role in politics is laughable. She hitched her wagon to Trump and now she will be relegated back to the farm all but forgotten.

      1. I agree. As far as female faces of the national republican party Nikki Haley has accomplished more, isn’t a complete Trump sycophant and comes from a region of the United States that is much more important in national elections than Noem.

      2. Well since I don’t know your identity (not proud of what you wrote?), I will address you as Dear Anonymous November 17, 2020 at 7:25 am,
        Governor Noem is engaged as the Chief Executive of South Dakota wherever she goes. She is in continual contact and is well aware of the conditions and happenings at home. What would you have the Governor do? Hold your hand, make public appearances around the state (for which I’m sure you would criticize her), sit at her desk and wait for your call to tell her what to do, or not do?

        Helping President Trump’s campaign is important to South Dakota as he shares our commitment to our freedoms (all of them), smaller government and state sovereignty.

        Your gratuitous characterization of Mr. Lewandowski is ridiculous.as he is not seeking an office here in South Dakota. (You really shouldn’t use words you obviously don’t understand.) Regardless, Governor Noem has been, and will continue to be, a faithful and active leader who enjoys widespread approval by South Dakotans and is quite popular even beyond our borders.

  9. Considering how preoccupied Maggie is with past data points instead of current trends and situations it’s clear she and her supporters are unbelievably bad at setting public policy. And this post will age far better than that stupid post of hers will. Once SD cracks the top 10, then 5 in deaths it’ll be pretty clear who was right. And we’ll have the policy director on the record as being unbelievably dense.

    2. Every time an article comes out that’s critical of Noem her team will dig up some obscure or misleading statistic to try disproving the point. It’s just incredibly obvious to those of us paying attention.

      1. It’s obviously to anyone with an iota of statistical literacy. If you’re going to cherry pick individual days (though 3 or 7 day averages are far superior) you should at least use the same day for you entire sample. Sat-Sat-Sat-Sun? Really? It’s pathetic how many didn’t catch that sleight of hand. Also, even with the data she did use, the per capita comparison makes SD look worse in all but one instance (daily new cases w/ MN, but if you pulled SD’s from that same Saturday like an intellectually honest individual would) we’re still behind the curve.

        1. USA Today cherry-picked the date of its article, and Joel Shannon cherry-picked William Haseltine’s ridiculous quote claiming our situation is “as bad as it gets anywhere in the world.” How do you justify demanding that the counterargument adhere to a stricter standard than the original argument?

          I have more than “an iota of statistical literacy,” and it isn’t at all obvious to me why an “intellectually honest individual” would submit to your arbitrary rules or become guilty of “sleight of hand” by declining to do so.

          1. It isn’t stricter and it isn’t arbitrary. You compare like things. Either pick the same day for all or the daily record for all. It’s not mix-and-match. How is this a difficult concept?

            1. Q: “How do you justify your arbitrary demand that the counterargument use the same day for all of its statistics?”

              A: “It isn’t arbitrary. The counterargument should use the same day for all of its statistics.”

              It’s clearly arbitrary.

          2. How is this a difficult concept? You compare like things. Either pick the same day for all or the daily record for all. It’s not mix-and-match.

  10. Wasn’t it Sarah Palin 1.0 who coined the term “death panels” under Obamacare, where the elderly and infirm will become expendable and their deaths pre-determined? Now, it is clear that Sarah Palin 2.0 (Gov. Noem) and her cadre of apologists are now making death panels popular. Making excuses that the great number of deaths fall in the older age ranges is still cold and immoral but acceptable to sustain the South Dakota way of life. Sounds alot like we are being told to make a trade off where we accept more deaths in our senior population just so a minority of folks don’t have do something as simple as wearing a mask for a limited amount of time.

    One helluva way to treat our “Greatest Generation” and others!

    Even uber-conservative governors like Gov. Kim Reynolds has faced the reality that a mask mandate is needed to slow down the pace of a disease outbreak. Of course, she isn’t running for the White House, so I guess Palin 2.0 is going to double down while more of our seniors and infirm are expendable.

    1. One of the advantages of being a rich white guy who isn’t accountable to the adverse consequences of protecting their rich white a$$ has on the people who suffer from various mental health challenges, live in dysfunctional abusive homes, and only ticket out of their condition is in-person education, is such rich white guys get to pontificate on the morality and motives of those who worry about those not able to social distance in million dollar homes.

      These people are also very susceptible to the Indentified Victim Effect especially when they are the identified victim, where they get to block out the consequences on the voiceless, vague undefined victims like the partial list I outlined above.

      2. Troy, the living embodiment of the Dunning-Kruger effect.

        You want to try that again, with a little more coherence and less word salad?

    2. it’s amazing that a posting like Dave Z’s is what passes for public discourse now. if this were a baboon cage i and others would be reaching for the charmin after reading what was thrown at us. don’t be that primate please.

  11. That’s convenient. They always compare the South Dakota death rate to early hit states in the northeast. They can’t lose… because nobody will ever match those figures again. Medical facilities know more about how to recognize and treat the virus now.

    But Kristi Noem invited our cases to rise to these record levels by promoting large events, ignoring mask usage and mocking social distancing. There are now going to be thousands of Post-Covid Syndrome cases and hundreds of deaths that didn’t need to happen. I lost a relative just this week who was not in a high-risk group. I have several friends that are suffering, months after their infection.

    If only we would have held the virus off for a little while longer. The vaccine is a few months away. This was so irresponsible.

    Historians will be writing about this failure for many years to come.

    1. Elk,

      Why don’t you detail what you’ve have done differently in the past and your rationale?
      And, detail what you’d do today if you were Governor.

      And, then we’ll look around to see if any politician will endorse it. I’ll even help shepp it for you. You can stay anonymous.

      Take your best shot.

      1. Don’t listen to me, Troy. Try the medical professionals. You know what they recommend and you also know that it has worked in those states that follow their advice.

        South Dakota? Whatever we are doing… aint workin.

        1. There are so many medical experts it has been a cacophony which I find disconcerting. I’m asking you since you are full of empty criticism:

          Tell me what you’d have done different and what you’d do going forward under the current situation.

          Otherwise, you are just another noisy clanging cymbal.

          1. Wear a mask
            Wash your hands
            Maintain distance
            No gatherings
            Stay home
            MORE testing
            Contact tracing
            Faster lab results

            There ya go, Chief.

            1. And, you want what more from Noem? This is about blaming Noem for our situation. I just want to know how the cheap seats would have or will make things better.

              1. She could have come out of the chute with a mask mandate and ban on social gatherings of a certain size. She could have easily just whapped on a face-diaper like the sane people do. She could have organized and directed the DOH to quickly and efficiently do contact tracing. She could have pulled her nose out of Trump’s ass and demanded greater access to testing and labwork.

                Trusting South Dakotans to do the right thing are why we end up debating stupid shit like trans kids going to the toilet.

                1. She refused to even encourage those things, Ike. She did the opposite of what was recommended and bragged about it all across the country. Now we see the results.

                  So many families devastated, and just before the vaccine arrives.

  12. California, Hawaii, Maine, Oregon and Vermont have the lowest COVID cases per 100K population this week, according to the CDC.

    Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming have the highest rate of new cases.

    Can you guess which states have been requiring masks?

    1. That’s right. The best states all mandated masks and the bottom five, at least until the last few days, did not. It gets worse. The low performing states, like the Dakotas, have ten times the infections of the five most responsible states, as a percentage of the population.

      Just a coincidence, I suppose.

      1. Thirty-nine of the 41 states with mask requirements have seen steep increases in cases this fall. But if you say so, they must be doing it right.

  14. Even North Dakota and Iowa have now stepped up and taken action. But here in South Dakota, Kristi Noem is still letting the hospitals fend for themselves.

  15. Kelo headline right now: “Gov. Noem: States with mask mandates aren’t doing any better than S.D.”

    Well, Kristi… ALL states are doing better than SD.

    And the states with mask mandates, on average, are doing a lot better. Go see for yourself at CDC or Johns Hopkins sites. You can see it in new cases or positive rate percentages. However you look at it, she is wrong.

    How does she sleep at night?

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