South Dakota's Republican governor resisted Coronavirus stay-at-home order, now it's a COVID-19 hot spot

The Trump-aligned GOP governor of South Dakota resisted the urgent appeal by epidemiologists to issue a stay-at-homeorder. Now the state is home to a COVID-19 outbreak. Ignoring science has consequences.

As governors across the country fell into line in recent weeks, South Dakota Gov. Kristi L. Noem stood firm: There would be no statewide order to stay home, the Washington Post reports today in a review of what went so wrong in the state.

Thanks to the governor's stupidity and science denialism, South Dakota is now home to one of the largest single coronavirus clusters anywhere in the United States, with more than 300 workers at a giant Smithfield pork-processing plant now confirmed to be sick with the virus.

"Edicts to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus, Gov. Kristi Noem said, reflected a 'herd mentality.' It was up to individuals not government to decide whether 'to exercise their right to work, to worship and to play. Or to even stay at home.'" https://t.co/7iTQo5Uztp

— Griff Witte (@griffwitte) April 14, 2020

Remember, the *best case* scenario is the drug reduces the symptoms of the disease (and that is far from evident). It does nothing to slow the spread of the virus and can never be a substitute for prevention. https://t.co/JPzUCk3Gga pic.twitter.com/UlcHd57c4T

— Amanda Marcotte (@AmandaMarcotte) April 14, 2020

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