Dear Gov. Noem, when the COVID-19 task force asked us to practice 15 Days To Slow the Spread, you were just fine with following CDC experts. In March, when they recommended Americans to wear masks, President Trump said, I m not going to wear one. That was apparently when you started listening to someone other than the CDC.
In August you said, We are not â and WILL not â be the subjects of an elite class of so-called experts. Even though our South Dakota Department of Health recommended masks you never encouraged the people of South Dakota to wear them. Instead, you are busy instructing us to respect people who won t do so, and you are saying that there is conflicting science about mask effectiveness. Since January, South Dakota now has 133 deaths per 100,000 people, according to the CDC web site. That is the No. 8 state in the nation for most deaths!