GOP Governors at the Forefront of COVID-19 Outbreaks

This past week, the biggest increases in confirmed COVID-19 cases occurred in states where conservative leaders have resisted calling for stay-at-home orders.  Arkansas saw a 60% increase in cases this past week, while Nebraska saw that number go up 74%. Not to be outdone, Iowa jumped 82% in confirmed cases. But the top spot this past week goes to South Dakota, where Gov. Kristi Noem has refused calls to order stay-at-home precautions. The Mount Rushmore State saw an increase of over 1,000 cases this past week, making that a 205% spike.  

Those South Dakota statistics include the extraordinary numbers coming from Minnehaha county, and specifically the hundreds of confirmed cases at the Smithfield Pork plant. It’s the single largest cluster of cases in the country, where well over 600 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19.
This is from a Republican-governed state that still refuses to have a statewide stay-at-home order.  Governor Kristi Noem is a Sarah Palin-esque ignoramus that struggled 21 years to get her college diploma.  The under-educated former cheerleader achieved national notoriety last fall by approving the state's anti-drug slogan, "Meth. We're On It."

The Smithfield plant, which supplies 5% of the pork consumed in the U.S., employs 3,700 people, all of whom have been free to roam about the state and congregate for the last month without any restrictions, thanks to Noem’s “commonsense conservative values.” Employees there were forced to work in close proximity with no distancing measures in place, according to employees. The same employees now say that people throughout the city are becoming infected.

Elsewhere, Nebraska saw cases jump almost 30% in just a few days. Even still, Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts continues in his efforts to defend his lack of foresight and leadership by sayin  stupid things like, "This is about making that decision, not the heavy hand of government taking away your freedoms.” Nebraska still does not have a statewide stay-at-home order.

Other Republican-led states also continue to rank near the top of per-capita coronavirus cases-- Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Mississippi and Louisiana.  Florida's Ron DeSantis rashly decided to open up state beaches this weekend, risking the lives of thousands of Floridians.  It is uncertain if other GOP governors will follow the advice of scientists and extend their stay-at-home orders or cave to Trump's illogical and risky attempts to "open up" the economy prematurely.