South Dakota residents threw Gov. Kristi Noem a parade following the Republican’s decision against implementing a stay-at-home order in the state amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Noem shared a video on Twitter on Monday, showing people honking from their cars and emergency response vehicles blaring sirens for the governor.
“It’s a parade for you. Wave to ’em!” a woman off-camera told the governor.
“I am so blessed to serve the people of the great State of South Dakota. You folks made my day!” Noem tweeted.
I am so blessed to serve the people of the great State of South Dakota. You folks made my day! pic.twitter.com/oy0e5KO9RZ
— Governor Kristi Noem (@govkristinoem) April 28, 2020
She has received pushback for not ordering residents to stay home but has defended the move and claimed the state has not seen the surge in hospitals that some projections suggested.
“I think we’ve got maybe 60 people in the hospital right now,” Noem said last week. “We have 2,500 beds set aside for COVID-19 patients, but we only have 63 in. We probably, from all of our projections and studying the science behind the virus, we won’t peak until the middle of June. But we already have done much better than what we had thought would have been hitting our state already.”
Despite no stay-at-home order in the state, South Dakota has taken steps to restrict the size of gatherings, close schools and some nonessential businesses, and ban on-site dining at restaurants.
