Smithfield Foods the world’s largest pork production facility in Sioux Falls, South Dakota is now the largest Covid-19 hot spot in the United States. Nine state governors have not issued stay at home orders, Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. The governors, all
Republican, have often defended their actions out of a belief in smaller
government, despite many calls from within their own states to do so.  

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, for instance, told reporters
earlier this week that “the people themselves are primarily responsible
for their safety” and that state and national constitutions “prevent us
from taking draconian measures much like the Chinese government has
done.” She also added, “South Dakota is not New York City.”

Eighty of South Dakota’s 180 new COVID-19 cases are employees of the
Smithfield Foods meat-processing company, bringing the total to 600 Smithfield Foods
employees who have tested positive. There are also now 135 total cases
of non-employees that became infected when they came into contact with a
Smithfield employee, according to the South Dakota Department of
Health. 

Augustín Rodriguez, 64, showed up for every one of his
shifts at Smithfield Foods, where he worked for nearly two decades.
Augustín kept going to work even after he began experiencing COVID-19
symptoms like fever and cough because he needed to work. He kept working until a sharp pain in his side kept him from going to work. Three days later he was hospitalized and tested positive for Covid-19. He was placed on a ventilator and died two weeks later. His death is presumed to be the first connected to a COVID-19 outbreak at Smithfield Foods meatpacking plant in Sioux Falls. His wife, Angelita, believes he was worked to death.

Smithfield announced Sunday April 12, 2020 that it would be closing its Sioux Falls
plant indefinitely Wednesday. The plant has 3,700 employees.  The company is closing its meat processing plants in other states as well. The number of South Dakota residents who have tested positive for Covid-19 has surpassed 1,100, and more than half of those cases have
some connection to the Smithfield Foods pork processing plant in Sioux Falls. 

Kristi Noem a staunch Trump supporter seems to think that her rural state is safe from the virus or she is choosing to ignore the reality. Despite the numbers, Noem said she would not issue a stay-at-home order
for Minnehaha and nearby Lincoln Counties, as Sioux Falls Mayor Paul
Ten Haken requested. Noem said a stay-at-home order wouldn’t have made a
difference in Sioux Falls because the plant would have remained open as
part of a critical infrastructure business.

Noem also said her state will begin trying Hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malarial drug pushed by President Donald Trump in treating COVID-19. On the same say she made that announcement scientists in Brazil said they stopped part of their study, after heart rhythm problems developed in one-quarter of people
who were given a higher dose of the drug. Tom Hanks wife, Rita Wilson, developed “Extreme side effects” when she was given the drug in Australia. Noem received 1.2 million doses of the drug from the Federal government. Her constituents will be the guinea pigs. Senator Elizabeth Warren, said: “The governor just lets this problem get bigger and bigger and bigger.”

The Smithfield plant in Sioux Falls used represents about 4% to 5% of
U.S. pork production, or about 18 million servings per day. The pork industry could see 5 billion dollars in losses due to the pandemic. Consumers are likely to be meat shortages due to the plant closings.