Noem held a town hall taking questions on the states response to the coronavirus pandemic. The state is one of few without a stay at home order. 518 meatpacking plant workers tested positive for covid19. South dakota public broadcasting posted the town hall. Hello and welcome to a covid 19 special. South dakotas have a lot of questions about the coronavirus. They also have questions about the decisions being made in an effort to slow down the spread. Joining me to help answer some of those questions live, we have governor kristi noem, secretary with the south Dakota Department commissionerd the of the Governors Office of Economic Development. Welcome to all of you. Thank you. We are going to continue to take questions tonight. You can send those via text or email. Our phone number to send a text 67372. We are going to get started. We have been receiving questions for the last day and a half. All of those that we will be asking tonight have come from south dakotas except this first one. Governor, i will start with you. You shared some encouraging news with south dakota during your first conference. Theke to a number of number of projected hospital beds that we thought would be needed when south dakota would hit its peak and now that looks like it has changed. Share with south dakotas what those numbers look like and what that means. Gov. Noem thank you so much for doing this. I think it will be very helpful to everyone who has tuned in and the people of south dakota to get some information on how we can get through this virus and what it is doing to our state every day for the next several weeks. Today we had a press conference and unveiled new projections for our state. If everyone remembers back on march 10 is when we announced our first cases that were impacting south dakota. We used national models, what we saw happening in other states and countries to build a projection for the state of south dakota. Using demographics, people that may be of formal age or if they had preexisting Health Conditions, we made projections for how that would look like when we hit our peak infection rate and hospitalization rate in south dakota. With no mitigation efforts whatsoever, we would need over 10,000 hospital beds at our peak. Put some social distancing guidelines in place, told people to stay home, to use good hygiene practices, to wash their hands, we said that groups could not be more than 10 and they needed to be smaller than that in south dakota and asked for businesses to be innovative in how they change their practices, take care of the customers, and also taking care of their employees and keeping them healthy. When we did that, we pushed out our peak infection date to the middle of june and we knew that from that with the agreement of our three Healthcare Systems in the state, we would need 5000 hospital beds in the state of south dakota on that date for covid19 patients. Since then, we have gotten more information, more days and experience under our belt. We know how the virus is spreading in south dakota and we are using that information in continuing to adapt those models and predict what we will see in south dakota. Today i shared with everybody that we now believe that our statewide peak will still happen in the middle of june but that we should need half of the hospital beds that we originally thought. About 2500 beds. That is really encouraging news for south dakota. That means our systems have the capacity to take care of folks that may require an elevated level of healthcare and that we will be able to flatten that way that do that in a makes sure that we can deal with what is coming at us. I want to remind everybody that the science of this virus tells us that we cannot stop it, but we can take action to slow it down and make sure that if people catch the virus and become infected that we are getting than the healthcare they need to get through it. The encouraging news is that all dakotansrk that south have done is working. Im still going to prepare with sanford and monument and the other healthcare entities for that 5000 bed capacity for to over prepare and over plan. The fact that the projections and the data tells us that we will see less people needing hospitalization, that is really good news for our state and it is proved that what everybody is doing by taking personal responsibility is working. Before i get into those top questions that have come over the last one he four hours, many hours, many folks have questions about the decisions you have made so far. These are decisions that few people have had to make in our lifetimes if ever. Can you talk to me about the pressure this has put on you, your team, or other leaders across the state and the conversations you have had with them as we have made these decisions . Gov. Noem i would say i am very blessed to have great people around me. Of phoneen on dozens calls with people across this country that are making decisions. The team we have in south dakota is outstanding. Our state epidemiologist, our secretary of health, they are highly respected throughout the nation for their expertise and their knowledge. I think the people of south dakota can be reassured that we have a class a came in south dakota advising me. We have listened and worked daily with our Healthcare Systems, our professionals. Sanford health has a research arm that is helpful to us during this time. Avira has a comprehensive knowledge of how to deliver Telehealth Services and to get out on the ground and care for people not just in healthcare needs, but there Mental Health care needs which is what we are facing in south dakota as well through this virus. Monument health has an amazing ability to triage and appoint healthcare peak remote and rural areas. It has been amazing expertise to have. I rely on the people around me and come back to the foundation of using facts. I talked to people everyday that are scared, that have a lot of fear and emotion. We followed the science, what we know of the virus and the data and the facts that we see on the ground will make the best decisions for our People Living here in south dakota. I want everyone to remember that i lived here my entire life, too. I have a mom in the vulnerable population. She has diabetes. I have a son with severe asthma. I have nephews with the existing conditions as well. I put myself in your shoes. I know when it is your family and you see how they could get very ill from this virus, i am taking extra steps to put those precautions in place to make sure we protect as many people as possible. I also know we cannot stop the virus. If we tackled this together and Work Together, that we can get through this situation and make sure we come out strong on the other side. Im going to ask the number one question that is come in so far. A lot of viewers and listeners are wanting a better explanation , they want to better understand the data in terms of making that decision regarding a government shutdown. Where will we need to be for a state shutdown . Where will we need to be to make that decision . Gov. Noem we need to look at what is happening in other states that have done that, the results they have gotten, and what is happening in south dakota. We have seen such an outstanding call to action among the people of south dakota that we actually have more people staying home than many of the other states that have put in shelterinplace orders and have put together directives to tell people they cannot leave their homes. The way people have stuffed up in south dakota and taken it seriously has been phenomenal and it has made all of the different. All the difference a datanot seen an a set that has told me it is necessary. It is not that i am not teachable and im not listening to people, i am. I am talking to experts that have looked at other countries and constantly doing research on what are the best negation measures and what is really working. I want to remind everybody that i also consider the fact that whatever i put into place today, you have to sustain. I cannot put a shelterinplace for just two or three days or even 10 days. It may be something that would have to stay in place until we reach our peak infection date. I am always asking myself how long can i expect people to stay in their homes and still listen to the advice that we are giving them. If i tell you to go in your homes and not come out for three weeks and it is not at the right time or it is not appropriate and three weeks from now i say, we need you to stay for another three and nobody listens and everybody comes out and a size they cannot do it anymore and then we had huge infection rates all at one time and it overwhelms our healthcare system, that was not an effective approach. I am always looking at what is happening in other states. Are there fact that tell me it is necessary and it does not has been an appropriate move for south dakota. Governor, if we get to that point do you feel it should be universal across the state or because the way we are laid out geographically, is it that every committee would be different . Gov. Noem i think it is very different across the state of south dakota. I cannot imagine a circumstance where i would think it is appropriate statewide. We are very different than the big populated cities that you see on tv. We are spread out. There is a lot more open space in south dakota. Even though new york city is not like lemon, south dakota. Ofneed targeted approaches things that actually work for that community and what reflects that communitys needs. That is the viewpoint i am looking at. Every single county, city, and township in this state. I want to move to the secretary. Lets bring our viewers and listeners uptodate on the latest positive cases in south dakota. Our recoveryen numbers are just as important. What can you tell us . As of today we have 1168 positive cases in the state. Many of those associated with the smithfield outbreak. It is important to keep in mind that people do recover from covid. 80 of people that contract covid will have mild symptoms or maybe even no symptoms whatsoever. People do get better. We have over 330 people that have recovered. That is the good news. We have also seen a relatively low rate of hospitalization and that is also good news and that is what is helping to contribute toward the new numbers that the governor announced today. Covid can be very serious for some people. The majority of people do get better, they can stay at home, they can do the right thing to not infect other people and that is going to be key to us getting through this. Secretary, we have had questions come in about taking care of themselves and the best advice now that those numbers are going up. I imagine people will start paying attention to how to better care for themselves. Your best advice . It is the message we have been giving since the beginning and that is wash your hands, wash your hands very often. In my family we are joking that if our hands are not chapped, we are probably not washing them enough. You come into contact with Different Things in the course of a day. Keep your environment clean. Ive done things that you touch a lot in your house and your card. Common sense things like that can go a long way. The number one thing people can do is maintain social distancing and that means staying away from other people, keeping good distance between you and others. We know that this virus spreads primarily through respiratory droplets from persontoperson. That comes from things like sneezes or coughs. If you do have to sneeze or cough, use a tissue, again, good common sense. Staying away from people is going to be the number one thing we can do. It is one thing to say stay away from people. It is another thing to do that in your everyday life. I would challenge people to think about what you do over the course of the week and lets see what we can do to reduce the times that you come into contact with other people even by just another 25 because those things are going to make a difference. When you go to the gas station, pay at the pump. Dont go into the store and come into contact with another person. Limit the times that you go Grocery Shopping during the course of the week. Call your pharmacy and see if they can mail your prescriptions to you and save yourself a trip and come into contact with people. Just very practical things that i think we can do. They might be inconvenient for us at this time, but over time reducing our contacts with others will really help the transmission of this disease. First and foremost, that is what i would say. If you have symptoms, if you think you are sick, dont go to the emergency room. Please call ahead. Providers will walk you through what is going on with you. They will give you advice on what you can do. We are seeing a big surge in video visits and telehealth. Staying out of click settings is important for staying away from sick people as well clinic settings. If you need to be tested, or provider will help you understand what you need to do to get testing. Please call ahead if you have symptoms. The biggest message they are is minimize your with other people, practice good social distancing, wash your hands often, clean your environment. There is a recommendation from the cdc to wear a mask and so that would be another thing people can do to help reduce the spread. Lots of things people can do. I would encourage people to go for moresd. Gov information. I dont know if this is for you or if the governor would rather take it. This is about the voluntary app that will help individuals track their whereabouts. How many people do we have so far that are utilizing this app and are we finding it helpful . We developed this app with the help of the north dakota governor. It is an app specifically designed for folks to download on their iphone. Well be ready for android by the end of this week. It can download and it will start tracking where they have gone so that if they do test positive for covid19 in the future, we have all of that Historical Data to utilize to protect other people and stop the spread. This app is extremely horrible helpful. We have about 12,000 people that are using it today. South every single dakotan to download this app. It is called care 19 in your app store. It is free and voluntary and anonymous and all of the information will be destroyed and we are through this situation. Right now what happens is when someone test positive, our department of health staff do contact tracing. They call of the individual and say where have you been in recent days, who have you talked to, what places where you walking by and try to contact every Single Person that they potentially exposed to the virus while they were in their days previous to testing positive. That takes a lot of time. Those individuals they did expose, they called them and visit with them and see where they have been and where they have traveled or people that they have been exposed to as well. It takes hours and hours. If someone would just download this app, turn on their Location Services that would allow us to immediately have all of that information and utilize it to keep people home and isolated when they could be contagious and help stop the spread and slow it down in those areas. That is why it would be so helpful if every person in the state of south dakota that has the capability would download that app and turn on those Location Services. It let make a world of difference for saving us time. It would help us be much more proactive in identifying people immediately and isolating them and in the future we are hoping to build out a feature where it could send you a notification on if someone does test positive that you were previously in contact with it will let you know that information. I would really encourage everybody to download the care 19 app and utilize it during the next several weeks. That . I add one thing to the information that is part of the care 19 app is totally anonymous. When you sign up, you are given a number that you maintain and if you fall into the situation where you test positive in the future, it is up to you to give that number so that we can have the information that is in the app. That. Really do control it is totally anonymous and say to use for that purpose. I have a question from a viewer that came in and her name is michelle and this question says, what measures do you have in place to support the with the lack of resources and a significant number of Vulnerable People in this state. That is from michelle. Gov. Noem that is a great question. Your having regular phone calls with tribal leaders and healthcare experts. Haveke sure that they equipment, supplies, and a plan for how they are going to address covid19 if it should happen to reach those areas and start to spread. We have also deployed and have been working with Indian Health services which is a Healthcare Provider that has presence on the reservations. They have been sent equipment and supplies to do Rapid Testing there and making sure that we had the ability to get those folks that could need elevated levels of healthcare where they need to be. That communication has been happening on a weekly and more often basis than that when they have questions and followup and preparing for that population should they need some assistance and if we should have an outbreak and spread in those areas that we immediately get them the help and partnership they require. And talkl switch gears about smithfield foods. I want to talk about the Clinical Trials and we have the commissioner with us as we talk about help for Small Businesses. Secretary, i will come to you next as we look at smithfield foods. What do we know in terms of the number of employees that have tested positive . How many are hospitalized . We have seen reports and i do not know if these are accurate, but there has been one death so far of one of the smithfield employees . What can you tell us . Police atre 518 and smithfield who have tested positive. In addition, 126 tags tested positive as well. 126 close contacts. We have seen a handful of people hospitalized from that particular population. We do not have a confirmed death yet of anybody in the smithfield population. We will keep those numbers updated as we go along. Issecretary, we know the cdc planning on visiting. From what i understand, it is tomorrow they will visit the plant. What is their mission and what will they be doing . We asked the cdc to come and provide Technical Assistance