Governor Noem not budging on “hands-off approach” to COVID-19
Associated Press photo
November 17, 2020
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) – South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has shown no signs of budging from her hands-off approach to the pandemic.
But she is among a dwindling number of Midwest governors holding out against mask mandates.
She also faces a death rate that has risen faster than most states. South Dakota has reported 219 deaths in November. That is about a third of all its deaths over the course of the entire pandemic.
The governor’s spokeswoman Maggie Seidel pushed back against arguments by public health experts that a mask mandate would dramatically reduce the spread of the virus
