Month: March 2021

CPAC was held this year in Florida, and after listening to a few of the speeches, I think I have a new hero. Yes, Donald Trump spoke and yes, he gave a good speech. He is still my hero, but he is not a new hero of mine.

My new hero is Kristi Noem, the governor of South Dakota.

Although Governor Noem did not appear to be an accomplished speaker, she received multiple standing ovations – not for her fire and brimstone delivery, but rather for the content of what she was saying. At the end of her speech she referenced the importance of her dad as an example of hard work and perseverance, and the tremendous effect that he had on her life.

Obviously to speak at CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) a speaker must be a conservative, and Governor Noem indeed spoke a bit about the conservative principles of lower taxes and less government, but the best part of her speech had to do with how South Dakota dealt with Covid. She related how she was on one of the Sunday morning talk shows and the host, George Stephanopoulis, paradoxically suggested that perhaps his other guest, Governor Cuomo of New York, could give Governor Noem some tips on how to handle Covid in her state. In retrospect Governor Noem could have and should have given advice to both Governor Cuomo and Stephanopoulos as in the end her approach and subsequently the outcomes in South Dakota ran rings around not only those in New York, but also those in multiple blue states. In fact perhaps the eminent Dr. Fauci could have learned a bit from Governor Noem, as he cautioned her that if she continued her plan for dealing with Covid the hospitalizations for Covid in South Dakota would exceed ten thousand . . . at the peak in South Dakota the hospitalizations were just over six hundred. Oops! And at present South Dakota has the lowest state unemployment rate in the country.

In her own words the gist of her plan in South Dakota was that “public health policy needs to take into account people’s economic and social well being.” Governor Noem believed that the approach to Covid should be balanced, and not arbitrary. She stated, “to be clear, Covid didn’t crush the economy; government crushed the economy.”

SoDak never ordered a single business or church to close.

SoDak never instituted a shelter in place order.

SoDak never mandated that people wear masks.

SoDak never defined what an essential business was, because Governor Noem did not believe that a governor had the authority to tell anybody that their business was not essential.

Likewise Governor Noem believed that “no governor should arrest, ticket, or fine anyone for exercising their freedom.”

In September the students in SoDak were back in the classrooms as “priority was given to the students and their education.”

Her speech only lasted about twenty minutes and she was given her final standing ovation when she finished. 

Watch it, as it is well worth it!

“A responsible public health strategy treats the whole person, not just the virus.” 

To me this is obvious, but unfortunately what we see written and publicized are the number of infections, the number of hospitalizations, and the number of deaths due to Covid. What we are now just beginning  see written about are the ancillary effects of these prolonged shutdowns, which were initially supposed to help us get ahead of the virus and were supposed to help prevent our hospitals from being stretched to and beyond capacity.

The ancillary casualties are primarily small businesses, especially restaurants which are forced to operate way below capacity. Because of some arbitrary limit on the number of patrons that restaurants can accommodate at any one time, many have already given up and closed down, and many others are teetering on the brink.

At this point does the vaccine change anything? Better said, “should the vaccine change anything?” 

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine was just approved. Vaccine makers say they’re on track to deliver 600 million doses by July. Pfizer is ramping up production and Moderna is now expecting to double its shipments by April. One would certainly anticipate that the ever increasing numbers of vaccinated individuals should change somethings.

Seventeen percent of U.S. adults have received at least one vaccine dose, a number that is growing every day. There is strong evidence that immunity not only makes people far less likely to get sick from covid-19, but also makes it highly unlikely they will spread the disease.

An article in the Washington Post on 2/26/21 by Dr. Makary of John’s Hopkins proposes so-called “Immunity Nights” where restaurants can fully open to those who either have had Covid, have a positive antibody test indicating a prior Covid infection, or who been vaccinated. Yes, this is the same Dr. Makary who recently wrote that we are approaching herd immunity . . . how refreshing to finally see some optimism. His thoughts on Immunity Nights for restaurants are also both refreshing and hopeful as this concept could be expanded to just about anything else that has been restricted because of arbitrary lockdown limits. Barber shops & beauty shops, gyms, and places of worship could henceforth have “Immunity Days” or “Immunity Hours” which would only be opened to those with a known positive immunity status.

Now to those that live in California . . . Do not hold your breath for “Immunity Anything” to start anytime soon.

From KUSI News:

“California is extremely far behind in the reopening process compared to every other state in the country, but our public health orders refuse to tell us why.

“California recently became the 50th state to allow outdoor youth sports to resume, and is the last state to allow indoor youth sports to resume.

Furthermore, California is the only state continuing to ban gyms, museums, weddings, and charity functions from resuming normal operations.”

Perhaps there should be a ballot measure in California that would guarantee us “Immunity from Politicians and from ‘those that know best’!” BTW, it would pass!