Sioux Falls City Councilor Neitzert’s misguided statement

Councilor Neitzert made this statement on FB yesterday, let’s break it down;

Regarding the Coronavirus response, we continue to receive updates daily. Decision making is fluid and dynamic, as the situation evolves daily if not hourly.

Yet for some reason, the citizens are not being shared this same information. They are being left in the dark, as we saw by the surprise outbreak announcement at Smithfield today. When public officials are sharing important information, they must filter it quickly to what is easy to understand and disseminate it immediately. This is NOT happening.

The timing of when we take action is just as important as the actions themselves. I cannot stress this point enough. It is key. 

Action should have been taken weeks ago! But like the weak coffee in the breakrooms of low paying employers across this city, our leader’s weakness to make life saving decisions is evident.

Our partners in the medical field and experts have made it clear that each action must be timed strategically in relation to the curve of the number of confirmed cases and hospitalizations we are seeing here locally. Not statewide. Not what is happening in New York. What is happening here in our metro area.

Really? When is our local healthcare providers funded by fee-harvesting credit card companies gonna share this strategic plan?

We consult daily with our partners at both hospitals and with our state department of health, who are part of our emergency operations center. If we act too early, **we will only delay the peak of our curve and unnecessarily extend restrictions and the tremendous negative impacts on our community**. Our response is measured and based on facts and data, modeling and current conditions in real time, rather than on emotion and fear.

So the sooner more people get sick, the faster this goes away?

It is imperative that we do the right things at the right time, to maximize effectiveness, to save the most lives, and to minimize the negative economic and by extension health impacts on our citizens from the consequences of our actions.

The economic impacts are happening, and will be long lasting. That is a forgone conclusion. Right know we must focus on health and not the size of people’s wallets.

Current restrictions that affect commerce and the economy affect tens of thousands of citizens negatively as well, from the loss of income, loss of food and/or housing security, homelessness, and various mental and physical health consequences. It is not a binary choice of “health” vs the “economy”. We are already seeing those negative effects locally, from those struggling to stay housed, to buy food, and to survive. Our homeless population and those on the edge of homelessness have limited options right now. People are being affected physically and mentally from the anxiety, stress, and depression this is causing. It should not be minimized, and it is important to consider it in our actions.

So when is this city government going to address this outside a FB post? Seriously? My brother has been unemployed for several weeks, and I said to him recently, ‘The working man is going to get ‘f’ked’ again, just like in 2008, and he said, ‘Pretty much.’ When are we going to make decisions based on the wellbeing of these people instead of the bottom line of few rich people in our village we call Sioux Falls?

We cannot minimize the side effects and consequences of our actions, which is another reason why it is so important to do the right things at the right time.

The ‘right time’ was weeks ago. We are past the point of no return. At this point we might as well stick our head in a wood chipper to hear the voice of reason.

Perhaps the number one goal is to make sure that we have enough beds and equipment at the peak to care for all of the patients that will need it, both those affected by Coronavirus and those who have other medical needs at the same time. That one goal if we can accomplish it will save the most lives. Our strategy, decision making and timing, made in close conjunction with the hospitals, revolves around that goal.

So when is the public going to hear this ‘master plan’? So far we have heard nothing except a holding pattern of a jet that is running on fumes.

Finally, we have to navigate our legal limitations, both the limitations on what we can do as a city where the state has preemption, but also recognizing that even emergency powers are not unlimited and that civil rights still exist during a crisis. We do have limits on what we can do, but we are finding ways to do what needs to be done. It is a delicate balancing act to take all of these sometimes competing goals into account.

In times of crisis, our country, our state and city government home rule charter have unique powers to react to these kinds or emergency situations. but you and many others in city government have chosen to stick your heads in the sand while Rome is burning to the ground.

I’m proud of our city, confident in our administration and emergency operations center, and proud of our citizens that are making the necessary sacrifices for the good of one another. We will get through this!

I’m not usually a praying man, but at this point, it seems prayer is our only hope, because our elected leaders are leading us to Hell and back.