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In South Dakota, Huron passed a mask resolution on 11/16 and Mitchell passed a mask ordinance on 11/23. Over the past seven days, their counties have had the lowest number of new COVID cases per population size in the state. (1/)
This is striking, because throughout the pandemic (prior to these actions), their counties had the highest number of new cases per 100,000 residents among the counties with the ten most populated cities. (2/)
Huron, Mitchell, and Brookings all have a seven-day average in the 50s/100,000. The next closest county is in the 70+ cases/100k. There is a noticeable gap between those counties that took stronger action earlier. (3/)
In a few short weeks, with decisive action by community leaders, Mitchell and Huron have reversed a trend of horrible outcomes. More wide-spread masking, reinforced by city-level ordinances, works! (4/)
Of course, masking alone isn’t the solution. Masks + social distancing + sanitizing + tracing/quarantine + forthcoming access to the vaccine will get us out of this. In the meantime, ask your city to enforce masking. It works. (5/5)
