Love it when our Supreme Leader makes the news;

In explaining her rationale against issuing a stay-at-home order, Gov. Kristi Noem told reporters, “The people themselves are primarily responsible for their safety.” She also pointed to the state and national constitutions that “prevent us from taking draconian measures much like the Chinese government has done.”

I have been told over the past week by several lawyers, specializing in municipal law and having experience with the Home Rule Charter, that the mayor has broad power when it comes to these kind of orders. The state legislature and governor have zero powers over our Charter when it comes to public health and safety of our community. The mayor or the city council can easily put ordinances in place that direct our public health officer to put for measures in place and enforce them, and the governor can’t do a damn thing about it except whine a little.

Trust me, I’m still on the fence as to if and when we would do it, but I think it is perfectly legal and can be done within a 24 hour period, not 5 days like PTH continues to say.

Sioux Falls is not Milbank or Mobridge. We are at a greater risk, and what could be safe in those towns, just isn’t safe in Sioux Falls. How can we rely or depend on the Governor to make those decisions for us, or the drunken sailors we call our state legislature (what a f’ing embarrassment).

Think about it. How is it ‘legal’ to close restaurants and bars that are private sector employers but not credit card call centers (that could easily have workers work safely from home) without laying them off? I will be working from home next week and all my employer asked of me was to have a working PC, internet and if I didn’t have a PC I could borrow one. I will have remote access to my work computer thru the internet. It really is that simple.

I believe it was legal to shut down restaurants due to health department concerns, and I think they have the same legal right to close other non-essential employers.

I told a restaurant owner that it is discrimination to say one private sector business has to be closed while the other doesn’t. And their legal arguments are laughable about closing one but not the other.

I have been of the contention that it is all or nothing. Either you shut down all non-essential employers with 10 or more employees or none at all.

The tricky part is we don’t know what that magical time frame is. The modeling on this virus has been all over the map. One day we are told 100K will die the next we are told 2 million. I do believe though Sioux Falls has a very short window to make that decision. I think they should also be cautious how they approach it, while legal, it also has to be timed properly. I have suggested to city councilors (who may be drafting something) that if you do it (stay at home order) it should be short (2 weeks) with an option to review and renew every 2 weeks. This gives them time to evaluate if it is working or not without being totally detrimental to the economy. Let’s face it, some people have to work, we can’t get around it. But we must make these decisions with a scalpel and not a machete.

17 Thoughts on “Noem seems to be concerned SD is going to turn into a communist country

  1. D@ily Spin on April 4, 2020 at 8:49 am said:

    With everything closed where is there to go? Nonetheless, I’ve driven around at times without stopping or getting out. Ones sanity is important too. Enforcing a stay at home restriction would involve unnecessary law enforcement and general litigation. Midwest people are independent and need space but they’re bright enough to realize they must not expose themselves. I’m behind Noem on this one. She’s made some good decisions lately. Is she sure she’s Republican?

  2. "Very Stable Genius" on April 4, 2020 at 7:59 pm said:

    It’s already a communists state, except we call it a corporatist state. They’re actually quite similar.

    Plus, you have to realize that our mayor was a toddler and our governor just a kid, when Reagan claimed that government was not the answer. Thus, they have grown up in this denial, or lack of understanding, of the true role or purpose of government in our lives.

    So, at a time like this, when government is the answer, having Paul and Kristi as our leaders makes about as much sense as having a tree hugging hippy run a fortune five hundred company.

    They “really didn’t sign up for this,” but that’s because they really didn’t understand what they got themselves into even prior to the virus, or the tornadoes. They see government positions as a pedestal of success, a stature, or a line on their resume. They cannot rise to the occasion because history did not give them to us (including Trump) as the answer, rather history has given them to us as a sign of the overall problem or problems before us, in our time.

  3. Locking down the city will just keep pushing this “peak” down the road and drying up jobs. We need to stay the course. There’s a change.org petition to lock the state like the other sheeple in this country.

    We took a drive to get out of the house. SF is the only place taking this shutdown seriously. We saw a horse shoe that had about 100 people at it in a small barn in Turner county.

    I think it’s the extra $600 a week that making people want to make this longer than it needs to be. People don’t realize they’ll be out of a job and employment checks soon. Cut the 600 a week and people would be begging to get this over.

  4. rufusx on April 5, 2020 at 12:08 am said:

    The impact of a shut-down today won’t be evident in any data for about 5-6 weeks. It takes about 6-7 days of incubation time in a newly infected person before t the virus is detectable, another 4-6 days before they develop symptoms, and about 2 -3 weeks of being sick. that’s 5 weeks. If you think 2 weeks is enough time to evaluate effectiveness – after 2 weeks all you’ll be looking at is people who became infected 3- weeks BEFORE the end of that 2 week period. Set it at 6 weeks, and THEN review every month or so thereafter.

    Projections I have seen is that the peak in SD will be around mid-July, based on a stay home scenario being implemented NOW. Protections of deaths range from 800 or so up to 15,000 – depending on whether stay at home is implemented NOW or later.

    Wuhan/Huwei in China shut down when they had 444 cases (cases – not deaths) – and ended up with 7,000 deaths. Your money or your life. Pick.

  5. Mike Lee Zitterich on April 5, 2020 at 4:24 am said:

    First off, No Sioux Falls business has been closed, not a restaurant, not a bar, a tavern, nor a car dealership. Restaurants are taking precautions out of fear of being ‘fined’ $500 dollars cause one of their customers may report them for violating an ordinance.

    Secondly, the City even under “Home Room Charter” also must comply with State statutes, codes, and regulations even under a strong mayor system.

    And thirdly, the City Council as the legislative branch of city government make an ordinance or vote as a council to pull a license concerning taxi cabs, restaurants, alcohol licenses, etc.

    Now, I will admit – giving the Public Health Director so much power to recommend, advise, and control the mayor by these ‘orders’ and ‘ordinances’, is risky. Cause SHE also has the ability to issue the License, Permits, and Regulate Restaurants, Bars, Taverns, Food Establishments. Even without the ‘order’ – she has the ability upon a public citizen complaint to investigate Business within her control, and upon that investigation she can make recommend, advise, and instruct the Mayor to pull the license, but then the Mayor must go before the City Council and allow that business to have a “public hearing” before the license can be voted on to be pulled as they do all year long.

    The PUBLIC HEALTH BOARD can also investigate, recommend, advise, and instruct the Director of Public Health as well, however, as per our Charter and Ordinances, it all must go before the Council for a public vote in order to enact a “law” governing the City.

    Whether a Statute governing the State, or an Ordinance governing the City – the LAWS are written in order to “restrict” government, thus protecting the RIGHTS of the PEOPLE. It is NOT the other way around. The PEOPLE always have the upper hand, and always must be brought forth in order to “Consent” to be Governed.

    People like myself will always STAND ON OUR RIGHTS in order to hold back the “government”.

    I do NOT consent to be shutdown, nor to have my travel restricted, nor my right to barter or sell my labor. If you are going to take that right from me, even for a short time period, you better bring that ‘agenda’ before the PEOPLE in a public “Forum”.

    – Mike Zitterich

  6. Cherry picking facts?

    The population of is Wuhan providence is 11 million!

    https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=617891589058409

    I’ll sell you a few bridges if your dumb enough to trust Chinese reporting.

  7. Anthony Renli on April 5, 2020 at 12:22 pm said:

    Your arguments about Restaurants and Bars being closed vs other business types is laughable on it’s face.
    Seriously.

    They are governed by laws and regulations that are unique to their industry, so they can, by definition deal with rules that are unique to their industry.

    Restaurants are a significantly greater risk for spreading disease to their customers and the community than most other businesses. Food, goes into peoples mouths. Drink glasses go into people’s mouths. Silverware goes into peoples mouths. If a server has the disease and is asymptomatic when carrying out a plate the risk of exposure is exponentially higher than sitting in a cubical, behind cubical walls, next to someone.

    Most other types of retail shops have less risk because the virus has a finite lifespan that it can live on surfaces. If someone waits a few hours or longer to handle their purchases, or practices good hand-washing techniques after handling their purchases they will most likely be safe. That isn’t possible if I am eating at a restaurant.

    The other issue with regards to other businesses that don’t have employees physically interacting with customers (like call centers):
    If there is an identified case it is orders of magnitude easier to track who could have been exposed vs. any business that has employees interacting with customers physically. Unless I’m getting contact information for every person who walks though my door, how do I notify customers that they may have been exposed?

  8. Prepare For Life Back On the Farm, Kristi Noem on April 5, 2020 at 12:43 pm said:

    The governors of 45 states have issued stay-at-home orders, meanwhile our Governor lives in a bubble at our expense.

    Obviously, she knows better than all those others, including the head of the CDC.

    Living is a rural state offers little protection because REALITY IS THE VIRUS IS IN CHARGE.

    Prepare for life back on the farm, Kristi Noem.

  9. Viral paranoia on April 5, 2020 at 3:10 pm said:

    “….you better bring that ‘agenda’ before the PEOPLE in a public “Forum”.”

    But how is that possible, if elections are being postponed?

    It’s like the US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, where it is illegal for the defendant to publicize their warrant, or to appeal it to the SCOTUS.

  10. l3wis on April 5, 2020 at 4:07 pm said:

    AR – missing my point. It’s not about what kind of non-essential business it is, my point was how can we limit restaurants legally and not other non-essential businesses? We can limit businesses, we proved that already with closing restaurants. As for the call center, I want you to think about that. If 400 people are working closely together, if only one of them contracts and doesn’t have symptoms for several days, you can almost guarantee they will spread it to almost 90% of the others, who will spread it to family. I think instead of spending trillions on welfare checks we should be spending the money on getting a 15 minute test to every single person in this country. If we don’t know who has it, it is impossible to stop the spread unless you stay away from others.

  11. Anthony Renli on April 5, 2020 at 4:40 pm said:

    Again, the point is Restaurants have a significantly higher chance of spreading infections to customers than other businesses that physically interact with customers.
    THAT is the difference between a restaurant and Target. I significantly higher chance of exposure.

    Now while discussing banking call centers – this becomes a very complicated issue.
    Banks are considered an “Essential Business” at a federal level, so there is no real way for the city or state to close them.
    Even the cheesy credit card call centers.
    They are explicitly called out by the department of homeland security: https://www.cisa.gov/publication/guidance-essential-critical-infrastructure-workforce
    If the city tried they would get a federal court to file an injunction and the city or state would lose.

    Should Wells Fargo let them work from home? Probably, but it would be illegal for them to use their own systems (even using a remote desktop), and it would most likely be illegal for employees to use their own home networks because of the regulations regarding financial data.
    They would have to send people home with their work PC’s, a hardware based VPN solution, and their VoIP phones for call routing. They don’t have that kind of gear sitting around, nor could they get that kind of gear, provision it, and get it too their employees in less than a month or two’s time.

  12. rufusx on April 5, 2020 at 11:01 pm said:

    Money doesn’t make science (developing am effective reliable test) happen faster. Jeebus – throw a little panic your way and you become a throw money at it guy? Emotion overpowers intellect. Most of what has been said on this thread is purely emotional venting – not reason.

  13. "Woodstock" on April 6, 2020 at 3:05 pm said:

    “‘Life back on the farm’?”…. “Hell, she’s already there”…. “This Pierre thing is just a bother for her”…. #IDidNotSignUp4This

  14. scott on April 6, 2020 at 4:40 pm said:

    ar–i don’t know where you get your info from. wells fargo, citibank, ccc, essurance and others have lots of employees working from home, using their home wifi. some call centers aren’t letting people work at home, because management can’t micromanage. if they can’t micromanage, then corporate would find out they aren’t needed and they don’t want that to happen. i would recommend any employee to print out all emails from management regarding cover-19 showing their response or lack of response.

  15. Reliable Voter on April 7, 2020 at 4:44 pm said:

    https://www.realclearpolitics.com/coronavirus/country/united-states/
    The Real Clear Politics virus tracker has South Dakota at 49th in number of test completed.

  16. A "Blue Commentator" on April 7, 2020 at 9:00 pm said:

    If you don’t test, then there is no real problem. #JustAskPutin

  17. Reliable Voter on April 8, 2020 at 3:24 pm said:

    Using the Real Clear Politics tracker on Wednesday afternoon: Confirmed Cases Per Million

    California 447.3
    South Dakota 444.2
    Wisconsin 442.8
    Ohio 440.4

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