PIERRE, S.D. – Governor Kristi Noem has appointed a panel of medical experts to recommend a “South Dakota-specific” plan for re-opening the state.
During her daily press briefing Monday, Noem says the Medical Review Committee will look at the national re-opening plan recently announced by President Trump.
“These are going to be medical recommendations as to testing capabilities, how testing should work going forward, and contact tracing.”
Noem says the latest models still show that the COVID-19 peak will hit South Dakota sometime in June.
The Governor says South Dakota continues to struggle with getting enough supplies to increase testing capacity. She’s working with the Trump Administration and private sources to get the supplies needed for the testing equipment South Dakota already has.
Noem is also signing an executive order giving South Dakota pork producers more flexibility to confront shrinking markets. Minnesota’s largest processing plant, the JBS plant in Worthington, has joined the Smithfield plant in Sioux Falls in a shutdown because of a COVID-19 outbreak. The Governor says her order will allow producers some flexibility on hog headcount until production plants re-open.
The Governor says she knows South Dakotans are starting to get “antsy” with all the social distancing and now the nice weather coming on, but they can’t relax what they’ve been doing to slow the spread.
