The trouble in South Dakota... (Picture)

 

This is Kristi Noem, governor of South Dakota.

She's not a shy supporter of Trump, having joined him multiple times in a dozen states through his reelection campaign. She was instrumental in the president visiting Mount Rushmore on July 3, a gathering of about 7,500 supporters of mostly maskless closely packed visitors. The coronavirus hadn't struck South Dakota to the extent it would in a few months.

In the first week of August, South Dakota still hadn't seen much of a jump in COVID cases. The rest of the nation was seeing infection and death statistics trending downward as well, as the summer spike in numbers seemed to be in relief. Sioux Falls made news early in the pandemic when a meatpacking plant had a serious outbreak of more than 750 related cases and 4 deaths. However, the next few months saw relatively little movement in the infection or death rate. Some events were cancelled out of caution, like county fairs and concerts. Most summer gatherings continued without much change, though. It was rare to see social distancing and mask wearing being mandated anywhere, and even rarer to see it enforced.

One month later, despite local and regional opposition, the annual Sturgis motorcycle rally went as scheduled. Though attendance was down from benchmark years like 2015 when an estimated 750,000 people participated in the rally, there were still over 200,000 bikers that came to the Black Hills for this year's gathering. The sentiment from state and city government officials was "They're going to come anyways, so we might as well have the rally". Tourism and sales tax revenue from the Sturgis rally make up a large portion of the state and region's budgetary income. Everyone knew that to miss out on those dollars would present a financial hardship in the following year.

From the beginning of the pandemic Governor Noem has made her constituents' choices the talking point of her COVID response. Seeing mask mandates or forcible closures as "infringing on our rights", she has doubled-down on her response tactics. This method has played well with the majority of the state's residents. If the governor says you don't have to wear a mask, then why should you? If the governor doesn't think we need to close down businesses, then why should we? By putting the onus of the decision making on the individuals, Noem has shunned the responsibility required to keep her state safe. She has touted the state's thriving economy through the pandemic, has repeatedly spoken about doubting the effectiveness of masks at stopping the spread of COVID, and pointed fingers at states and cities that do require them as being overreaching.

Here we are today. COVID records have fallen in this state time and time again. Hospitals are filling up and patients are already being transported to neighboring states for treatment. For weeks the two Dakotas have led the nation in per capita infection and death rates. Neighboring states are chastising Governor Noem for her lackluster performance in controlling the virus. North Dakota issued a statewide mask mandate this week in an attempt to curb the spread. What did Governor Noem do?

She publicly announced that if Joe Biden (who she has joined Trump in not acknowledging as the President-elect) enacts a national mask mandate, South Dakota will not enforce it. Again, this is under the guise of personal freedom and how those big meanies in Washington just don't get it like we do out here.

She's the problem, right? NO! No she is not. The problem in South Dakota is not the maniacal notion that individuals will choose to take steps to protect themselves and their health on their own. It's the damn individuals in this state that can't get past the inconvenience of wearing a mask and choose not to. It's the people who still to this day don't think the coronavirus is that big of a deal and it isn't going to affect them. Just this past week a coworker mentioned how if his job requires him to wear a mask he'll quit immediately. Two others nodded in agreement. They're school bus drivers. In their 70's. The few kids who choose to wear masks at school are bullied. This is what science and common sense are up against in South Dakota. But mainly it's the people that keep electing officials like Kristi Noem who are so completely delusional they'd rather double-down on baseless facts than admit any mistakes or take any responsibility for the care of their constituents. Trump won South Dakota by nearly a 2:1 margin. Noem's constant placating to "individual freedoms" play well in a state that prides itself on being conservative. I've grown tired of it though. This resident is fed up with the way South Dakota has been steamrolled with the coronavirus and how little has been done to stop it. Yes, we all want to get back to normal life of a year ago. But acting like nothing is wrong will only delay that return and will do so at the unnecessary cost of many lives. Mostly though, I'm tired of the people in this state who think Kristi Noem walks on water and who keep electing officials that disregard science and common sense in order to continue pandering to their voter base.