I took this SURVEY today, and it is pretty good. I encourage all to take it and leave your name and email for follow-up.
But what I want to know is how is it that 1) Homeland Security thinks providing bacon is an ‘essential’ service. As someone said to me today, ‘to build up your immunity you should be eating more vegetables and less bacon and ham.’ Duh! 2) Why would we let a business, owned by Chinese investors (a communist nation, hint, hint, Krusty Gnome) delegate to our free society leaders when they will be open, and when they will not be open? 3) I will answer that question; because immigrant’s lives are expendable to them, and it makes me sick to my stomach. If our supposed leaders had any backbones (I’m mostly talking about Rounds, Thune and Johnson) they would have had a directive already for Homeland Security to shut this place down. Bacon production can be suspended for a few weeks or months, we will survive. Our partisan hack leaders (from both parties) are showing their true colors, money is all that matters.
Here is what I don’t get. It’s been over two weeks since Huron officials were making headlines claiming that their hot spot wasn’t caused by immigrants, or those from the meatpacking plant ,either. But if Huron officials can have that type of info about their COVID-19 cases some two plus weeks ago, then why did our mayor only learn of what is going on at Smithfield within the last 36 hours?
Has communication broke down between the mayor and the governor, or state? Was Huron just making stuff up? And if the call between the mayor and Smithfield officials was “heated,” then why was it heated? Is it Smithfield’s duty to report sicknesses to the city and or state? Is that how Huron was confident with their knowledge of major employers some two weeks ago? Something is not right here. Either Huron leaders were blowing smoke, or our local Sioux Falls leaders where a sleep at the wheel, or communications have broken down between the state and Sioux Falls City Hall.
I don’t want to live in a world without Bacon 🥓.
It’s understandable that keeping Smithfield open is a priority. Smithfield has voluntarily shut down to clean and set new health standards. Statistics show the elderly are most endangered terminally when they get the virus. Ben Carson (Trump cabinet) stayed today that 90% of virus cases are not terminal. At some point, somebody needs to go to work and not only provide but also bring home the bacon. Sure, precautions and protective gear for pig processing. However, we’re gonna cook our bacon to a crisp and kill any virus.
FYI – there are only two ways to “build up your immunity” to ANY virus and neither of them involves consuming anything. 1. Get the virus and fight it off. 2. Get a vaccine.
All that nutrition product selling that claims to “strength your immunity” is snake-oil selling.
VSG – one of the areas where “conservatives” have cut that nasty government spending ever since Reagan has been removing FDA and USDA inspectors from food processing plants. They made them “self inspecting”.
Immigrants are good workers willing to put themselves at risk. Are they not also heroes for maintaining food supply. If they get sick, there is good healthcare and likely recovery. Give them some respect. It’s up to individuals to wear masks and keep a distance. Smithfield employees want to work. Let them.
Ruf, while you have proven me wrong on many things which gives you great pleasure I am sure, many scientists have argued maintaining a healthy diet makes your immune system stronger, which means carrots are a better choice than bacon.
rufusx,
Oh, I know. I remember back in the 1980s, when veteran Morrell workers where horrified as to what was beginning to happen, or not happening, when it came to inspecting the meat product along the line.
Maintaining a healthy diet makes you generally stronger – and more able to fight off and live through the effects of a virus – AFTER YOU GET IT. The word “immunity” itself, means – not susceptible to – not AT ALL – I.E., you will not GET IT. The “immune system” (thre prcesses inside the body that identify and then generate attack responses to a virus) for sure, has its job made more likely to succeed in a body that is not able to sustain it. But the system itself wil do what it does REGARDLESS of the health of the individual. In fact, one of the reason that people with underlying illnesses don’t fare well in response to the virus is that the immune system’s response is TOO STRONG and starts to kill off the fewer healthy cell those already have as well as the virus.
Maintaining a healthy diet makes YOU stronger overall – and able to withstand the attacks of your own immune system against you.
It’s kind of like cancer in that regard. Cancer, as you are probably aware, are your own cells growing out of control and attacking OTHER of your own cells. Good health does not make the immune system itself stronger. It’s a balancing act.
Yes, it’s a subtle difference, but it’s one that snake-oil health product sales people take advantage of.
Smithfield workers asked for safety from COVID-19. Their company offered cash.
Makenzie Huber, Sioux Falls Argus Leader
VSG,
The broken link, IMO, is at the level of the State Dept of Health.
The Dept is the direct recipient of all public health info and is charged to conduct epidemiological investigations (e.g. establishing and tracking ‘points of contact’ by the infected).
Among the questions in determining points of contact must certainly be, “Are you employed?”, “Who is your employer?”, “When did you last report for work?”
How TF does an employee of a business which employs 3,600+ on a single site in the state’s most populated city test positive and there are not (apparently) sirens, alarms, bells, whistles blaring; strobes and red lights flashing in the Dept of Health in Pierre?
I totally appreciate, ‘get’ and support that Smithfield Foods is an essential business. But there needed to be measures put in place to conduct business in a much different way.
The lackadaisical response by the State Dept of Health to the situation at Smithfield Foods (or was it willful neglect?) is the type of thing expected when you have serving as state department heads dutiful, loyal career bureaucrats to the swamp in Pierre who simply rotate offices and job duties across the various gubernatorial administrations.
The state department of public health in Nebraska is led by an M.D.; in North Dakota, an R.N.
Our State Dept of Health is led by a social worker. It is showing in the decisions and actions by state personnel during this pandemic.
Today’s 10:30 news conference:
Sioux Falls Director of Public Health, Jill Franken, was asked about the specific number of cases currently originating out of Smithfield.
She Would NOT Answer the question and did NOT do a very good job of dancing around it.
The First confirmed case at Smithfield occurred March 26th…..that was 16 days ago. The public was first made aware of this TWO days ago.
Governor Noem and Mayor Ten Haken and their public health staffs have been monitoring these numbers most likely on an hourly basis since March 26th.
So, where is the public transparency regarding the DAILY Smithfield numbers!?
Another concern has become hotels and AirBNB stays. The virus lasts 3 days. Shouldn’t there be this separation between stays and shouldn’t rooms be fumigated. AirBNB is worse in that there’s more square feet than hotels.
What about enclosed cars with Uber and LYFT? Exposure to not only driver but also passengers from the last 3 days?
“Social worker?” …. “I didn’t know Republicans got those kinds of degrees(?)”….
TGFG,
Good assessment! Someone, or many, are passing the buck around here. But regardless, you would have thought that the city would have feared from the start employee situations where there were many employees in a confined place.
“Contact tracing” are the key words here. Huron was apparently doing this almost three weeks ago. Was Sioux Falls? Was the state helping Huron and Sioux Falls on this? As a hot spot has appeared in Sioux Falls, these are the transparent questions which now must be asked of our city and state political leaders: What did they know, and when did they know it, and why did some know it sooner, possibly?
My friends mother works at Smithfield. They did nothing until the city and state starting asking questions. She said bonus made it worse as low paid workers were sick and coming to work for the extra pay.
You can thank LSS for our current situation at Smithfield and their union covers it up. Smithfield provides 0 good for this community
Our leaders have been handling this just fine. Some of you are simply sick in the head with hatred.
How is LSS and the union to blame? Were they giving the bonus before “the city and state starting asking questions”?