BREAKING|250,317 views|Apr 14, 2020,01:19pm EDT
South Dakota Refused To Shut Down, Now Faces One Of The Largest Coronavirus Outbreaks In The Country
Alexandra Sternlicht
Forbes Staff
Business
I cover breaking news
Updated 2 minutes ago
TOPLINE
South Dakota, one of five remaining states yet to issue a statewide stay-at-home order, now has one of the largest coronavirus outbreaks in the United States—with 300-plus cases at the world’s biggest pork processor, Smithfield Foods, raising concern about coronavirus spreading through processed meat and how South Dakota’s meager rural healthcare facilities will fare with the disease.
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem speaks to President Donald Trump during a meeting in the Cabinet ... [+]
DREW ANGERER/GETTY IMAGES
KEY FACTS
More than 300 workers at Smithfield Foods’ Sioux Falls, South Dakota, facility tested positive for coronavirus, accounting for about half of all statewide cases and making the facility—now closed indefinitely—one of the largest coronavirus hotbeds alongside the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt and Cook County Jail in Chicago.
Governor Kristi Noem is one of five governors who has yet to issue a statewide stay-at-home order, sayingthat it is the job of individuals, not the government “to exercise their right to work, to worship and to play. Or to even stay at home.”
On Monday, Noem held a media briefing to announce that South Dakota will be the first to host statewide trials to test hydroxychloroquine for treating and preventing COVID-19, a potential treatment touted by President Trump and entangled in political controversy.
Smithfield Foods is the world’s largest pork processor with over 54,000 employees, processing meats under their namesake brand and for companies like Nathan’s Famous, Cracker Barrel, Farmland, Armour, Kreschmar, John Morell, Healthy Ones and many more, raising concernsabout a shortage of meat across America.
At the Smithfield plant in Arnold, Pennsylvania, 12 employees have tested positive for coronavirus, though the location remains open, reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; the FDA said last month there is “no evidence of food or food packaging being associated with the transmission of COVID-19.”
While states with stay-at-home orders begin to discuss economic reopening and flattening of the new coronavirus case curve, South Dakota’s Department of Health says, “The climb is just starting,” with a case peak predicted to occur from May to mid-June, according to Brookings Register.
KEY BACKGROUND
There has been a total of 868 COVID-19 cases and six deaths so far in the state of South Dakota, making it the 19th-hardest-hit state on a per capita basis. Out of South Dakota’s 882,235-person population, 452,214 live in rural settings. This population is poorer, has less access to healthcare and at greater behavioral health risk, including a large portion of chronically underfundedNative American reservations, according to the South Dakota Department of Health, which could lead to severe COVID-19 cases. The onset of coronavirus in rural communities is a cause of concern as their hospitals are likely less equipped to handle COVID-19 and have been shutting down.
South Dakota Refused To Shut Down, Now Faces One Of The Largest Coronavirus Outbreaks In The Country
Alexandra Sternlicht
Forbes Staff
Business
I cover breaking news
Updated 2 minutes ago
TOPLINE
South Dakota, one of five remaining states yet to issue a statewide stay-at-home order, now has one of the largest coronavirus outbreaks in the United States—with 300-plus cases at the world’s biggest pork processor, Smithfield Foods, raising concern about coronavirus spreading through processed meat and how South Dakota’s meager rural healthcare facilities will fare with the disease.
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem speaks to President Donald Trump during a meeting in the Cabinet ... [+]
DREW ANGERER/GETTY IMAGES
KEY FACTS
More than 300 workers at Smithfield Foods’ Sioux Falls, South Dakota, facility tested positive for coronavirus, accounting for about half of all statewide cases and making the facility—now closed indefinitely—one of the largest coronavirus hotbeds alongside the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt and Cook County Jail in Chicago.
Governor Kristi Noem is one of five governors who has yet to issue a statewide stay-at-home order, sayingthat it is the job of individuals, not the government “to exercise their right to work, to worship and to play. Or to even stay at home.”
On Monday, Noem held a media briefing to announce that South Dakota will be the first to host statewide trials to test hydroxychloroquine for treating and preventing COVID-19, a potential treatment touted by President Trump and entangled in political controversy.
Smithfield Foods is the world’s largest pork processor with over 54,000 employees, processing meats under their namesake brand and for companies like Nathan’s Famous, Cracker Barrel, Farmland, Armour, Kreschmar, John Morell, Healthy Ones and many more, raising concernsabout a shortage of meat across America.
At the Smithfield plant in Arnold, Pennsylvania, 12 employees have tested positive for coronavirus, though the location remains open, reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; the FDA said last month there is “no evidence of food or food packaging being associated with the transmission of COVID-19.”
While states with stay-at-home orders begin to discuss economic reopening and flattening of the new coronavirus case curve, South Dakota’s Department of Health says, “The climb is just starting,” with a case peak predicted to occur from May to mid-June, according to Brookings Register.
KEY BACKGROUND
There has been a total of 868 COVID-19 cases and six deaths so far in the state of South Dakota, making it the 19th-hardest-hit state on a per capita basis. Out of South Dakota’s 882,235-person population, 452,214 live in rural settings. This population is poorer, has less access to healthcare and at greater behavioral health risk, including a large portion of chronically underfundedNative American reservations, according to the South Dakota Department of Health, which could lead to severe COVID-19 cases. The onset of coronavirus in rural communities is a cause of concern as their hospitals are likely less equipped to handle COVID-19 and have been shutting down.
