Lives or livelihoods?

摘要

AFTER PEAKING at nearly 15% last spring, America's unemployment rate has fallen to 6.2%. But the recovery across the country as a whole, speedier than many economists had expected, has nothing on South Dakota, a state with particularly loose covid-19 restrictions. Unemployment there has tumbled to 3.1%-as low as it was before the pandemic. South Dakota's unemployment rate is the lowest in the country (see map) and a full percentage point lower than that in North Dakota, which imposed extra restrictions in November. South Dakota's state government has shied away from mask mandates and stay-at-home orders. Bars, restaurants and clubs are open; many geared up for a huge St Patrick's Day celebration on March 17th. At last month's Conservative Political Action Conference, a big Republican bash, Kristi Noem, South Dakota's governor, took the plaudits for having apparently done the impossible: avoid a biblical death toll from covid-19 while keeping the state open for business. South Dakota made a choice-albeit one which was not open to many other states.