Kristi Noem -- RNC screenshot
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) appeared on Fox News Tuesday evening, claiming that under her "unique approach," she was able to help her state get through the pandemic better than "virtually every other state."
The problem, however, is that South Dakota actually did among the worst in the nation when it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic.
When one looks at per-capita cases, meaning the percentage of the population who got COVID or died from COVID, the Dakotas were among the worst. The states both reached the top in the country with hospitals near capacity and healthcare workers with COVID staying at work.
Looking at the Center for Disease Control of data since Jan. 2020, South Dakota has had 12,244 cases per 100,000 people. To put that in context, New York has only had 7,378 cases per 100,000 people. California has had 8,247 cases per 100,000. Even Texas is lower than South Dakota with 8,251 cases per 100,000 people.
South Dakota is also above the national average, which shows 7,880 cases per 100,000 people. The only state worse than South Dakota is North Dakota.
It's unknown where Gov. Noem is getting her data but it's wrong.
See the interview below:
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