The crowd gathered for the Conservative Political Action Conference responded with a standing ovation Saturday, when South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican, told the audience Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease expert, “is wrong a lot.”
“In South Dakota, I provided all of the information that we had to our people, and then I trusted them to make the best decisions for themselves [on how to prevent the spread of COVID-19] for their families and, in turn, their communities.”
She went on to defend her record on the coronavirus pandemic, telling the CPAC crowd she “never” focused her efforts to combat the virus solely on case numbers. Instead, she explained, “We kept our eye on hospital capacity.”
“Dr. Fauci told me that I would have 10,000 COVID patients in the hospital on our worst day,” she recalled. “On our worst day, we had a little over 600. I don’t know if you agree, but Dr. Fauci is wrong a lot.”
One way in which Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has change his opinion is his evolution on masks. Initially, in March 2020, he said there was “no reason” to wear face coverings. Then, it was revealed, he said that only to protect the limited supply of masks, hoping to save what was available for medical personnel. His position changed again when, shortly thereafter, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Americans should wear masks, even if they are homemade cloth coverings. In February, Fauci began encouraging people to wear two masks, because it “just makes common sense” that two would be better than one.
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Noem also rebuked the media for its bias against conservatives, recalling her November 2020 appearance on ABC’s “This Week,” when host George Stephanopoulos asked embattled New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), over whom the media fawned, to give advice to the South Dakota governor.
“[Stephanopoulos] asked Cuomo to give me advice on how to deal with COVID,” she said. “Now seems like a good time to remind everyone of what Gov. Cuomo was doing in New York.”
The Republican governor was referring to Cuomo’s March 25 executive policy ordering nursing homes to accept patients who tested positive for COVID-19.
“Six days after that, he prohibited nursing homes from sending COVID patients to the nearby Naval hospital ship or the field hospital, both of which were essentially empty,” said Noem. “Eight days after that, the first deaths began to show up.”
The office of the state attorney general of New York revealed in late January that Cuomo underreported nursing home deaths in the state by as much as 50%. The New York governor is now also entangled in sexual harassment allegations.
While all that has been unfolding in the Empire State, Noem pointed to the fact that South Dakota (tied with Nebraska) has the lowest unemployment rate in the country. The reason for that success, she said, is because the state kept businesses open and taxes low during the pandemic.
South Dakota, Noem argued, is “the only state in the nation that never ordered a single business or church to close.”
“We never instituted a shelter-in-place order,” she added. “We never mandated that people wear masks. We never even defined what an ‘essential business’ is, because I don’t believe that governors have the authority to tell you that your [job] isn’t essential.”
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Noem has repeatedly faced condemnation for refusing to implement a mask mandate. In mid-February, she explained that, in her view, a unilateral decree on masks “is inappropriate for government.”
She has instead urged South Dakotans to practice personal responsibility.
Fauci, for his part, responded to Noem during an appearance Sunday on NBC’s “Face the Nation,” when he said the governor’s comments were “not really helpful” to fighting against COVID-19.
“You know, it’s unfortunate,” he said. “But it’s not really helpful, because sometimes, you think things are going well and just take a look at the numbers: they don’t lie. … I’m sure that you can get a standing ovation by saying I’m wrong, but the fact, if you look at the scientific facts and follow what we need to do, as these cases are coming down, the thing that we don’t want is for them to do this, and start plateauing at a level that’ll give us a lot of trouble.”