South Dakota Republican Governor Kristi Noem praised her state’s low unemployment rate in a tweet on Friday afternoon, noting that the situation is pre-pandemic as she refused to close deals despite the increase of coronavirus cases.
“South Dakota’s unemployment rate dropped to 3.0% in December,” wrote the Republican governor. “It is lower than it was BEFORE the pandemic.”
Noem, an avid Trump supporter, made headlines last spring when she refused to enforce orders to stay at home in Mount Rushmore State, telling reporters during an April press conference that “South Dakota is not New York “.
Although South Dakota, the fifth least populist state in the U.S., had far fewer cases than New York – which had one and a half times more cases of coronavirus than the entire population of South Dakota – they also carried one of the worst rates infection in the country.
South Dakota currently has a total infection rate of more than 12,000 cases per 100,000 people, according to data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Neom State saw one of the biggest outbreaks of coronavirus cases transmitted in the workplace, when about 1,300 employees at the Smithfield refrigerator facility in Sioux Falls tested positive for COVID-19 last year.
CALIFORNIA CORONAVIRUS VACINE ROLLOUT LAGGING BEHIND MOST STATES
But Noem rejected the negative attention brought by his state’s infection rate, calling the findings “proven false” at a December briefing.
“Many in the media have criticized this approach, labeling me as misinformed, a ‘denier’ and reckless,” Noem told reporters. “Some have even claimed that South Dakota is ‘the worst that can happen anywhere in the world’ when it comes to COVID-19, a statement that has proven to be false.”
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, South Dakota has the third best unemployment rate in the country, behind Nebraska and Vermont.
Vermont, which ranked second in the lowest unemployment rate in the country, imposed strict measures against the coronavirus and also saw the lowest infection rate in the country, with less than 1,700 cases of coronavirus for every 100,000 people.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPLICATION
Vermont fulfilled orders to stay at home, masked mandates and chose to slowly reopen the state. The state’s ability to maintain a low infection rate also means that they can maintain activity.
Fox News was unable to immediately contact the South Dakota governor’s office for comment.