In a press conference, Wednesday afternoon Minnesota Governor Tim Walz expressed that he wishes the Dakotas would take more aggressive steps to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune said that Gov. Walz pointed to South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem as not doing enough during this global pandemic. Walz stated: “And this one’s a little bit personal because the governor of South Dakota has taken to traveling to other states and criticizing others. Now at a time when that state’s hospital capacity is overwhelmed”

In the press conference, Gov. Walz pointed to the fact that as far as per capita cases of COVID-19 Minnesota is catching up with the Dakotas. He also stated that data showed this summers Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in western South Dakota helped spread the Coronavirus beyond the state and that the rally was “absolutely unnecessary”.

The Tribune reported that Gov. Noem's spokesman, Ian Fury, replied that The South Dakota Department of Health website reflected that 36% of South Dakota's hospital beds are open to deal with COVID-19 patients. The article reflected that the South Dakota Department of Health officials admitted they are including infant intensive care unit beds in their calculations of available beds.

Dakota News Now posted that this afternoon South Dakota saw the second-highest single-day death total as 27 more COVID-19 deaths were reported. The highest single-day death total was last Friday, November 6 when 28 COVID deaths were reported.

The South Dakota Department of Health website updated the following COVID-19 numbers for Wednesday:

  • New Confirmed Cases = 1,362
  • Active Cases = 17,461
  • Total Confirmed Cases = 55,705
  • Currently Hospitalized = 543
  • Total Deaths = 567
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