Kristi Noem Thins the MAGA Herd in South Dakota

Corona virus infections are rising faster in South Dakota than any other state, up +371%. Governor and beauty queen Kristi Noem may not be protecting her citizens from COVID, but she sure as shootin’ is gonna defend them from the federal gummit.

If @joebiden illegally mandates vaccines, I will take every action available under the law to protect South Dakotans from the federal government.

— Governor Kristi Noem (@govkristinoem) August 23, 2021

Bess Levin at Vanity Fair said it best: “South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem Joins Fellow Republicans in Quest to Kill Her Constituents.”

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Motorcycle Rally Revs Up the Delta Variant

Last August, 460,000 bikers from all over the country headed to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota’s Black Hills. Many carried Covid-19 back home. Contact tracing was nearly impossible, but at least 649 Covid-19 cases were linked directly to the Sturgis rally, and they passed the virus around to friends and family. One estimate put cumulative infections from the event at 250,000 nationwide, generating public health costs of $12.2 billion.

The 2021 Sturgis Rally started Friday, with 700,000 riders expected, and something new has been added, the Delta Variant, which is more contagious, and makes people sicker. Sturgis is in Meade County, which has a 37 percent vaccination rate, and rates in the six bordering counties are even lower.

Naturally, pistol-packin’, hard-drivin’, snake-oil pushing,  Trump-touting former beauty queen and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem will be attending.

More:

“South Dakota’s Sturgis Motorcycle Rally: A ‘cautionary tale’ in the age of Covid-19,” By Ray Sanchez, CNN

“Sturgis bike rally revs back bigger, despite virus variant,” Stephen Groves, Associated Press

“Sturgis Motorcycle Rally revs up, drawing thousands and heightening delta superspreader fears,” Timothy Bella, Washington Post

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Image (“Disease Vector”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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South Dakota Death Cult

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, a pistol-packin’, hard-drivin’, snake-oil pushing, Trump-touting former beauty queen, has resisted implementing elementary coronavirus public health policies in her state, claiming they would infringe on personal freedom. Her libertarian lovefest has given her state the nation’s highest COVID-19 positivity rate. “I’ve consistently said that people that want to wear masks should wear masks, and people that don’t shouldn’t be shamed because they choose not to,” the governor reiterated on Wednesday.

While South Dakota’s hospitals are filling up and her constituents die thinking coronavirus is a hoax, Kristi Noem declares that, if President Biden enacts a national mask mandate, she won’t enforce it.

More:

“As deaths spiral, South Dakota governor opposes mask rules,” Stephen Groves, Associated Press

“‘It’s not real’: In South Dakota, which has shunned masks and other COVID rules, some people die in denial, nurse says,” Joel Shannon, USA Today

“What Nurses Are Seeing and Hearing in South Dakota,” Molly Olmstead, Slate

“South Dakota is grappling with the nation’s highest positivity rate. This Covid-19 widow wants a mask mandate,” Lucy Kafanov, Leslie Perrot and Hollie Silverman, CNN

Updates:

“Kristi Noem rigidly follows Trump strategy of denial as Covid ravages South Dakota,” Ed Pilkington, The Guardian

“South Dakota gripped by pandemic amid Kristi Noem’s no-mask approach,” Talli Nauman, The Guardian

“Some COVID-19 patients flown out of state as S.D. hospital ICU capacity dwindles,” Nick Lowrey, Argus Leader

“Federal Judge Scorches Gov. Kristi Noem Over COVID Response,” Tracy Connor, Daily Beast

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Anti-Science Governor Killing Off South Dakota Constituents

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, a pistol-packin’, hard-drivin’, snake-oil pushing, Trump-touting former beauty queen, has resisted implementing elementary coronavirus public health policies in her state, claiming they would infringe on personal freedom. That clearly includes freedom of infection, since South Dakota now has a 38% COVID-19 positivity rate. Governor Noem refused to take action against meatpacking plant hotspots, and praised a huge superspreading motorcyle rally in her state, an event that carried coronavirus throughout the Upper Midwest.

As South Dakota hospitals feel the strain of her laissez-faire health policies, Governor Noem is absent, on the campaign trail for Donald Trump.

More:

Trump backs South Dakota governor’s handling of COVID-19,” Associated Press

“As COVID-19 Cases Rise, Some Governors Resist Lockdowns, Mask Mandates,” Will Stone, NPR News

“South Dakota’s Positive Virus Rate Hits 46%—but Noem Aide Says ‘We Feel Pretty Good,’” Tori B. Powell, Daily Beast

Related:

“When Libertarianism Goes Bad,” Paul Krugman, New York Times

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Motorcycle Rally Drives Up Upper Midwest Coronavirus Cases

Remember South Dakota’s Sturgis Motorcycle Rally back in August, where 400,000 riders gathered without face masks or social distancing? Back then there was little COVID-19 in the Dakotas or surrounding states, but attendees brought the viral souvenir back to their Upper Midwest homes with them.

“Within weeks of the gathering, the Dakotas, along with Wyoming, Minnesota and Montana, were leading the nation in new coronavirus infections per capita. The surge was especially pronounced in North and South Dakota, where cases and hospitalization rates continued their juggernaut rise into October. Experts say they will never be able to determine how many of those cases originated at the 10-day rally, given the failure of state and local health officials to identify and monitor attendees returning home, or to trace chains of transmission after people got sick.”

“More than 330 coronavirus cases and one death were directly linked to the rally as of mid-September, according to a Washington Post survey of health departments in 23 states that provided information. But experts say that tally represents just the tip of the iceberg, since contact tracing often doesn’t capture the source of an infection, and asymptomatic spread goes unnoticed.”

–“How the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally may have spread coronavirus across the Upper Midwest,” Brittany Shammas and Lena H. Sun, Washington Post

More:

“Sturgis Motorcycle Rally was ‘superspreading event’ that cost public health $12.2 billion: analysis,” J. Edward Moreno, The Hill

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Image (“Disease Vector”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Motorcycle Rally Linked to 250,000+ Coronavirus Cases

“The inevitable fallout from last month’s Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, an annual event that packed nearly 500,000 people into a small town in South Dakota, is becoming clear, and the emerging picture is grim.

According to a new study, which tracked anonymized cellphone data from the rally, over 250,000 coronavirus cases have now been tied to the 10-day event, one of the largest to be held since the start of the pandemic. It drew motorcycle enthusiasts from around the country, many of whom were seen without face coverings inside crowded bars, restaurants, and other indoor establishments.

The explosion in cases, the study from the Germany-based IZA Institute of Labor Economics finds, is expected to reach $12 billion in public health costs.”

— “Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Is Now Linked to More Than 250,000 Coronavirus Cases,” Inae Oh, Mother Jones

More:

“Sturgis Motorcycle Rally was ‘superspreading event’ that cost public health $12.2 billion: analysis,” J. Edward Moreno, The Hill

“Sturgis Motorcyle Rally linked to more than 265,000 cases of COVID-19 costing $12 billion: report,” Nancy Dillon, NY Daily News

South Dakota Marriage Equality

U.S. District Court Judge Karen Schreier has ruled than South Dakota’s ban on same-sex marriage is in violation of the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the U.S. Constitution. “Plaintiffs have a fundamental right to marry,” wrote Judge Schreier.  “South Dakota law deprives them of that right solely because they are same-sex couples and without sufficient justification.” The judge stayed her ruling pending appeals, which SD Attorney General Marty Jackley has promised. The attorney for the successful plaintiffs intends to appeal the stay.

More:

“Judge strikes down South Dakota gay marriage ban,” Reid Wilson, Washington Post

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Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht,NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

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