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Sure, South Dakota's COVID-19 cases were supposed to be peaking now. They aren't. Big win, right? But the pandemic is playing out in many, localized surges across the state -- these are hidden in the overall state numbers. Let's look at Beadle County, home of Huron (thread)
Beadle County was home to some of the first COVID-19 cases in South Dakota, as well as some of the first deaths. Beadle Co. isn't big (pop: 18,453). Huron, the county seat isn't big either (pop: 13, 696). And the virus first swept through at least one family group hard.
Two relatives, teacher Mari Hofer and state rep. Bob Glanzer, died. For a time, early on, Beadle Co. was one of the hardest-hit counties in the state. Local leaders scrambled to institute restrictions to slow the spread.
In a March 22 meeting, county and city officials closed rec facilities, banned dine-in service and social gatherings of 10 or more people. Here's the city ordinance: https://www.huronsd.com/assets/file-manager/City-Government/public-notices/city-of-huron-emergency-ordinance--covid19.pdf
These moves were more strict that the statewide recommendations of Gov. Kristi Noem, who said local governments could take a harder line if they chose. And as you might expect, local leaders took a lot of heat. Then the ugly rumors started. https://www.inforum.com/lifestyle/health/5013142-As-virus-spreads-in-South-Dakota-cities-weigh-%E2%80%98patchwork%E2%80%99-of-business-closures
Beadle County is much more diverse than you might expect for a small county in the middle of South Dakota. There are relatively large Hispanic and Asian communities there. A major draw: jobs at area meat plants. And local leaders have welcome the expanded workforce.
As Beadle Co.'s COVID-19 cases rose, the rumors spread into nearby counties: It was the immigrants who were sick. The rumors got so loud, city leaders in both Huron and Mitchell issued public statements to swat them down. All the cases so far?Caucasians. https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=110592477249194&id=101627271479048
The city and county restrictions seemed to have done the trick. In less than a month, Beadle County went from a state hotspot to zero new cases. A success story, right? https://www.inforum.com/newsmd/coronavirus/5087921-Beadle-County-sees-turnaround-in-positive-COVID-19-cases
For a time, Beadle County was an island of relatively calm as the pandemic raged through the Smithfield Foods meat plant in Sioux Falls, with case counts there climbing into the hundreds, then higher. The lull lasted for about month.
Thing is, Beadle County is not an island. And getting local cases down to zero is not a final victory. That's not how viruses work. On May 12, a single new case was reported. 8 more on May 16. 25 more on May 20. The curve was headed the wrong direction, fast.
A month prior, Gov. Noem, celebrating South Dakota's declining number of new COVID-19 cases, had heralded her Back to Normal Plan. Now, on May 31, Beadle Co.'s second wave was here. 3 more people in Beadle County were dead from the virus, and the case count looked like this:
This time, the area meat plants were the problem -- specifically their inability to keep the virus from spreading among their workforce. New cases were linked to the Dakota Provisions turkey plant and the Jack Link's beef jerky plant in nearby Alpena. https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/2020/05/27/huron-south-dakota-coronavirus-cases-covid-19/5262379002/
Local officials worked to contain the spread. They issued COVID-19 advisories in several of the predominant languages used in the area, including Spanish and Karen. Even so, one Jack Link's employee died due to the virus. https://www.inforum.com/newsmd/coronavirus/6508745-Death-reported-at-Jack-Links-jerky-plant-as-outbreak-grows
A month ago, local leaders had relaxed restrictions based on the lack of cases and encouragement from Gov. Noem. Now they were trapped, in policy terms. It had been a battle to close things down before. Who even had the stomach for what was likely to be an even more bitter fight?
Instead, city chamber leaders issued a Back to Business Playbook, and started posting signs around town riffing on the Smokey Bear campaign, although this bear wore a facemask. http://greaterhuron.com/covid-19.html
The message was a stark one: "If we can't flatten this curve and flatten it very soon, the hospital will be overrun and the city will have to be shut down," said David McGirr, head of the Greater Huron Development Corp. and a long-time local civic leader.
So where are things now, a week or two later? Beadle County's second wave seems to have crested. It would seem likely the community tightened up its social distancing and masking, and local meat plants got more of a handle on their transmission issues. ... Or did they?
This weekend, 100 workers at the Dakota Provisions plant didn't show up to work, effectively a vote of no confidence in their safety at the plant. We know this happened, because an email from plant management leaked, and my colleague @ShannMarvel obtained it.
The email from Dakota Provisions HR Director Mark "Smoky" Heuston essentially accused members of the local Karen community of not showing up to purposely hurt the business. As @ShannMarvel reported: https://www.inforum.com/news/government-and-politics/6536777-Management-email-to-South-Dakota-meat-processing-plant-employees-offends-Karen-community
Quick primer: The Karen people aren't those "Karen" types you've been hearing about. They're a group of people from Myanmar/Thailand. Many have fled their homes due to conflict. Many have resettled in the US, including in the Huron area.
Heuston at Dakota Provisions apparently helped recruit the Karen to come work at the Huron plant over the last decade-plus. That's a long relationship. But that made the email feel even uglier, some in the Karen community said. https://www.inforum.com/news/government-and-politics/6536777-Management-email-to-South-Dakota-meat-processing-plant-employees-offends-Karen-community
Dakota Provisions later apologized to employees for Heuston's "personal posting." But I've got to imagine something like that doesn't just go back in the box, especially when people are worried about their personal safety.
The no-show Saturday at Dakota Provisions isn't an isolated case. Reuters just reported about 1/3 of Smithfield Foods workers in Sioux Falls still aren't back to work, either remaining quarantined or because they still don't feel safe to do their jobs. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-meatpacking/meatpacking-workers-often-absent-after-trump-order-to-reopen-idUSKBN23M1EQ
So while the Beadle County 2nd wave seems to have crested, there are still big concerns, especially among meat plant workers, about their safety. If they're not safe, nobody is safe, because they're a big part of the community. And that's how another wave starts. (end thread)
