Superspreader, Here I Come
South Dakota I Love You
The resurgent delta coronavirus variant is steamrolling across the country but it better not try to invade the Black Hills of South Dakota or it will have to face the ire of 2021 Republican presidential hopeful Gov. Kristi L. Noem.
Noem was overheard commenting to a staff worker, “Variant, what variant, I never heard of a variant, not in my state.” I made that up but it’s probably pretty close to what the governor said.
Fox News headlined with “HOG HEAVEN: Motorcycle rally attracts hundreds of thousands as Americans awaken from COVID restrictions.” (My note: The awakening may be short lived for those who contract the variant.)
Just below was a tease to another story, “New York Auto Show cancelled due to COVID surge.”
That about says it all, COVID-19 infects New Yorkers but bikers in South Dakota are immune and you can get the facts from South Dakota Gov. Kristi L. Noem, as she counts the votes she’ll likely get in a 2024 run for the GOP nomination for president and as she’s counting the $800 million in sales that the 10-day Sturgis Motorcycle Rally generates for the local South Dakota economy.
Since the pandemic began, South Dakota has had 125,581 cases of COVID-19 and 2,050 deaths among the highest per capita in the country. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that during the calendar week, July 25–31, there were 52 cases per day of the variant reported in South Dakota for an increase of 68 percent from the 31 cases per day reported during the previous week. The CDC said that reports of variant viruses “should be considered an indicator of wider transmission in the community since the number of COVID-19 positive virus specimens undergoing genomic sequence testing is done as sentinel monitoring rather than all positive specimens being tested.” I don’t know what that means but it sounds bad.
As a result of increasing positive tests for the Delta variant, the CDC recommends that fully vaccinated people wear a mask in public indoor settings in areas of substantial or high transmission and that even fully vaccinated people should wear masks anywhere the level of transmission is high, “particularly if they are immunocompromised or at increased risk for severe disease from COVID-19, or if they have someone in their household who is immunocompromised, at increased risk of severe disease or not fully vaccinated.” That would seem to suggest mask wearing and vaccinations at a wild and crazy biker event where 700,000 people are expected to roll in.
Funny that Noem never mentioned the word “superspreader” and made no reference to the latest figures for new cases or deaths from the rapidly expanding delta coronavirus variant. Too bad for the bikers, many who may come down with the variant, which if it doesn’t put them in the hospital, they may spread to their elderly parents who just may die because the hospitals are overcrowded treating COVID patients.
New reports say that 700,000 people are expected to roar into South Dakota’s Black Hills for the 81st annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, with the slogan, “We’re spreading our wings.” That’s the only mention of the word “spread” and it was surely not in context of “superspreader” but rather an indication of the freedom the bikers will enjoy until some of them get home feeling miserable from the variant. Nobody ever said that the state’s primary responsibility is the health and safety of its residents. That is, nobody named Kristi L. Noem (as in gnome, mythical subterranean creatures who guard the precious metals and jewel stones that lie buried in rock and ore).
Last year’s rally attracted around 460,000 bikers from all around the country and masks and social distancing was about as rare as a Democrat in Mississippi.
“At least 649 covid-19 cases were linked to Sturgis, but the true total was obscured as contact tracing was difficult after bikers returned to their home states,” the N.Y. Times reported.
Noem quit Northern State University to get married but later signed up for classes at the Watertown campus of Mount Marty College and at South Dakota State University, and online classes from the University of South Dakota and finally graduated from South Dakota State with a major in political science. South Dakota State is not exactly Cornell University.
Wikipedia notes that Dr. Anthony Fauci has a medical degree from Cornell University’s Medical College. He has made important scientific observations toward understanding of the regulation of the human immune response and is recognized for delineating the mechanisms whereby immunosuppressive agents adapt to that response.
He developed therapies for formerly fatal diseases such as polyarteritis nodosa, granulomatosis with polyangiitis, and lymphomatoid granulomatosis. In a 1985 Stanford University Arthritis Center Survey, members of the American Rheumatism Association ranked Fauci’s work on the treatment of polyarteritis nodosa and granulomatosis with polyangiitis as one of the most important advances in patient management in rheumatology over the previous 20 years. Fauci is the director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the chief medical advisor to the president.
That pretty much proves that the guardian of precious metals and jewel stones that lie buried in rock and ore, otherwise known as Gov. Noem, probably knows better than Fauci when it comes to defending against COVID-19 and the delta variant. I mean, she is a South Dakota State University Jack Rabbit.
Noem undoubtedly believes that a “superspreader” is just another mythical creature like her namesake and that’s why she didn’t insist that the bikers show proof of vaccinations or wear masks if they want to attend the Sturgis rally but that’s about as likely as expecting Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. to make sense about anything.
She should follow the news. Thousands of people reveled in the streets of Milwaukee, Wis., after the Milwaukee Bucks won their first NBA championship in 50 years. Almost 500 fans have been found to have contracted COVID-19.
In Illinois, health officials have asked the estimated 385,000 people who attended last weekend’s the Lollapalooza music festival to get tested for COVID-19. Anyone attending the four day festival had to show proof of vaccination or a negative coronavirus test from the previous 72 hours.
But, hey, Chicago and Milwaukee are a million miles from South Dakota. Not exactly, Chicago is 576.6 miles from the South Dakota border and Milwaukee is just 674 miles away. That’s not that far for a person who has contracted the variant to travel.