South Dakota governor STILL refuses to give stay-at-home order despite becoming one of the nation's largest coronavirus hot spots - but says it will be the first state to trial experimental drug lauded by Trump

South Dakota Gov Kristi Noem on Monday continued to resist calls for a stay-at-home order as the state became one of the nation's largest hot spots for the coronavirus after an outbreak at a meat processing plant.

Health officials reported the largest day-to-day increase in confirmed coronavirus cases on Monday with 138 people testing positive. 

The state has confirmed a total of 868 cases, with the bulk of those coming from Minnehaha County, which contains Sioux Falls. So far, six people have died. 

And despite the state now having one of the nation's largest single coronavirus clusters, the Republican governor said: 'I have all the faith in the world of the people of South Dakota.'

'They've been absolute rock stars in working to protect their communities and their families,' Noem said. 

South Dakota Gov Kristi Noem (pictured in March) on Monday continued to resist calls for a stay-at-home order as the state became one of the nation's largest hot spots for the coronavirus after an outbreak at a meat processing plant

Virginia-based Smithfield Foods announced Sunday that it is closing its pork processing plant in Sioux Falls until further notice after hundreds of employees tested positive for the coronavirus - a step the head of the company warned could hurt the nation's meat supply

It's unclear if Noem plans on changing her mind about issuing a statewide order, but some local officials have called on her to at least issue a stay-at-home directive for some cities. South Dakota is one of seven states that still has not issued stay-at-home orders. 

Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken asked Noem to give the order for the city as the rate of COVID-19 infections accelerated in recent days.

Many of those infections came from an outbreak at a pork processing plant operated by Smithfield Foods. 

TenHaken said if the current rate of infections continue, the city's healthcare system could be crippled. 

The only way to get a stay-at-home order immediately is to have the governor issue one, he said. Otherwise, it would take seven days to pass an order through the city council.

'Quite honestly, it's crap that we have to wait that long to act,' he said.

Noem said she is evaluating the request, but resisted the notion that a more aggressive approach to get people to stay home is necessary. She said people are voluntarily taking precautions. 

The governor acknowledged that Sioux Falls could see a peak in infections several weeks before the rest of the state, but continued to stick to her projection that statewide infections will peak in mid-June. 

Instead, Noem announced her push to test the drug hydroxychloroquine as an 'offense' against the coronavirus. 

The drug has been championed by President Donald Trump but drawn skepticism from doctors who say it could have severe side effects.  

'It’s an exciting day,' she said as she spoke about the tests and conversations that she previously had with Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner. 

Noem said South Dakota will be the first state to run a state-wide trial to test hydroxychloroquine. 

There are several other trials being conducted elsewhere. She explained that the state's three largest health care providers will conduct a trial with 2,000 people. Every participant can choose if they want to take part.

The governor said she pushed the White House last week to provide enough hydroxychloroquine to give it to every hospitalized person, others who are vulnerable to the coronavirus and 'front line' health care workers. 

She said state funds will be used to sponsor the trial, but did not say how much she plans to pitch in.

Allison Suttle, the chief medical officer for Sanford Health, which will be conducting the trial, said the side effects of the treatment could include nausea or fatigue, but did not list anything more severe. 

A press release from Sanford said there can be serious side effects from the drug, but they are rare.

 

Hundreds of employees test positive for the coronavirus at Smithfield plant in South Dakota 

Virginia-based Smithfield Foods announced Sunday that it is closing its pork processing plant in Sioux Falls until further notice after hundreds of employees tested positive for the coronavirus - a step the head of the company warned could hurt the nation's meat supply.

The announcement came a day after Noem and TenHaken wrote to Smithfield and urged the company to suspend operations for 14 days so that its workers could self-isolate and the plant could be disinfected.

The plant, which employs about 3,700 people in the state's largest city, has become a hot spot for infections. 

Health officials said Sunday that 293 of the 868 people who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in South Dakota work at the plant.

'As a critical infrastructure employer for the nation's food supply chain and a major employer in Sioux Falls, it is crucial that Smithfield have a healthy workforce to ensure the continuity of operations to feed the nation. At the same time, employees need a healthy work environment,' Noem and TenHaken wrote to the plant's operators.

Smithfield announced a three-day closure last week so it could sanitize the plant and install physical barriers to enhance social distancing. But on Sunday, it announced the plant's indefinite closure.

'The closure of this facility, combined with a growing list of other protein plants that have shuttered across our industry, is pushing our country perilously close to the edge in terms of our meat supply,' Smithfield president and CEO Kenneth Sullivan said in a statement. 

'It is impossible to keep our grocery stores stocked if our plants are not running. These facility closures will also have severe, perhaps disastrous, repercussions for many in the supply chain, first and foremost our nation's livestock farmers.'

The Sioux Falls facility is one of the largest pork processing plants in the US, Smithfield said. It supplies nearly 130 million servings of food per week, or about 18 million servings per day.

The Sioux Falls facility (pictured on April 9) is one of the largest pork processing plants in the US, Smithfield said. It supplies nearly 130 million servings of food per week, or about 18 million servings per day

There has been no evidence that the coronavirus is being transmitted through food or its packaging, according to the Department of Agriculture.

Other meat processing plants have also closed temporarily because of outbreaks of the coronavirus, including a Tyson Foods facility in Columbus Junction, Iowa, where more than two dozen employees tested positive.

Sullivan said Smithfield had been operating during the coronavirus crisis because it wanted to sustain the nation's food supply.

'We believe it is our obligation to help feed the country, now more than ever. We have a stark choice as a nation: we are either going to produce food or not, even in the face of COVID-19,' he said.

Smithfield said there will be some activity at the plant on Tuesday to process product that's already in inventory. 

It will resume operations in Sioux Falls after receiving further directions from local, state and federal officials. The company said it will continue to pay its workers for the next two weeks.