of the Statehouse
told South Dakotans to assist personnel in "essential" jobs, such as first responders.
Moreover, that same March 23 executive order told "any enclosed retail business that promotes public gatherings" — which the order defined as everything from bars to casinos to health clubs — to suspend or modify their business practices.
Even as late as April 24, Noem issued an order reemphasizing that a previous order urged "all South Dakotans" who were "particularly vulnerable to COVID-19" to stay home.
The governor's spokesman, Ian Fury, told FNS in an email on Thursday, July 15, that their office doesn't consider the March 23 order, nor the order for Lincoln and Minnehaha County, to be "mandatory."