Noem to push emergency legislation for a long COVID-19 fight
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Gov. Kristi Noem on Thursday said she will pitch legislators on a series of emergency bills to address what she believes will be a months-long fight against the coronavirus.
The Republican governor broke with a rosy prediction from President Donald Trump that the economy could be humming again by Easter, which is April 12, by saying she thinks the fight could last “many months.” Noem said she would ask legislators to consider a series of emergency bills to sustain the battle against COVID-19.
“Those who might think that by Easter things will be back to normal, I don’t want to discourage them, but I want to be very clear and honest with them," Noem said. “We can’t stop this virus. We can slow it down."
Legislators will consider Noem's proposals on Monday in a teleconference meeting.
Senate Majority Leader Kris Langer, a Dells Rapids Republican, said the bills they've discussed deal with the ability of the Secretary of Health to order certain businesses to close due to COVID-19 and the powers that counties have during emergencies. Others pertain to the number of in-person days that children are required to be in school, and the waiving of some state requirements on unemployment filings and commercial drivers.
Langer said lawmakers may discuss ways to allocate federal funds to the coronavirus response. But they would probably hold off on large budget adjustments until the state gets a better picture of the economic damage brought by the global pandemic.
Noem has resisted ordering businesses to close, instead pushing that decision to county and city officials. Her pragmatism has her trying to find an approach that gets people to stay at home while avoiding a complete shutdown of business. She said she thinks it's working so far.
The state reported five new positive tests on Thursday, raising its tally to 46 cases in six counties. Secretary of Health Kim Malsam-Rysdon said that so far, the health care system had not been overloaded but that it was preparing for a surge of patients.
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, which can include fever and cough but also milder cases of pneumonia, sometimes requiring hospitalization. The risk of death is greater for older adults and people with other health problems.
The state's health lab has been catching up with a backlog of tests, as commercial labs in the state came online this week. Noem said the state lab will be caught up by Monday.
But the governor's approach will be tested. Noem said the state will have to transform to address the coming crisis, even as “economic activity in this state has dropped to almost nothing."
The 1,703 people who filed for unemployment last week will be just the beginning of widespread layoffs resulting from the pandemic. The unemployment call center is now seeing a similar number of filings every day, the governor said.
She has advised people to continue to stay at home so that the state's health care system won't get a massive inflow of patients all at once, hoping hospitals can treat patients in waves over weeks or months. If COVID-19 transmission can be slowed, it might give them enough beds, equipment and time to refuel.
Noem also said that tests returned negative for three women who were apprehended after escaping from the Women's Prison in Pierre, where an inmate tested positive this week. She also acknowledged that U.S. Sen. John Thune was consulting with his doctor on Thursday after leaving Washington, D.C., on Wednesday because he felt ill.
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