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News and resources regarding COVID-19

NEWS 2.22.21: Snow Emergency, Ravnsborg Impeachment?, C-19 Latest, and More

City of Sioux City

South Dakota lawmakers are considering impeaching the state's attorney general as he faces misdemeanor charges for striking and killing a man with his car.

Jason Ravnsborg, the state's top law enforcement officer, has said he will not step down before he gets a hearing in front of a judge.

Prosecutors have charged the Republican attorney general with three misdemeanors but no felonies in the September death of 55-year-old Joseph Boever. Republican Rep. Tim Goodwin says Ravnsborg should resign and that lawmakers are considering impeachment if he doesn't.

Gov. Kristi Noem would get to appoint a replacement if Ravnsborg, a native of Cherokee, is convicted of impeachment or resigns.

An investigative report by Omaha TV Station KMTV shows a long-term care facility in South Sioux City received the harshest inspection possible during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Fourteen residents of Continental Springs died of COVID-19 complications in 2020. The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services issued the local possible rating for infection control and prevention. DHHS said immediate jeopardy to residents was widespread. The director of nursing told an inspector the facility was understaffed.

Nebraska officials are watching for variants of the coronavirus by sequencing the entire genome of recent test samples. So far, the lab hasn't identified either of the main variants of the virus first identified in the United Kingdom and in South Africa. But the researchers have found two other mutations that may affect the virus' ability to cause infections and severe symptoms. 

Iowa doctors say there is an alarming jump in teen suicide attempts, and the COVID-19 pandemic is largely to blame. KCCI Television in Des Moines reports they believe teens often feel alone and are missing out on the support they need

At the end of January, the Iowa Poison Control Center, based in Sioux City noticed a major increase in 11 to 14-year-old girls attempting to hurt themselves by ingesting medication.

The number of cases and positive test results continue to fall in Woodbury County. Siouxland District Health added six new cases. The 14-day test positivity rate fell one-percentage-points since Friday with 5%. Sioux City's two hospitals are treating a total of 15 patients. The rate has been steady for the past few days, including the number of deaths. Two-hundred and ten have died since the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Credit Siouxland District Health

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota health officials say the number of hospitalizations due to the coronavirus continue to fall, although a virus research group ranks the state among the top 10 for the number of deaths relative to population. The state reported 140 new cases and four new deaths in the last day, raising the totals to 111,309 positive virus tests and 1,863 fatalities since the start of the Pandemic. The COVID Tracking Project ranks South Dakota seventh in the country in the number of deaths per capita. The update showed that the number of hospitalizations fell from 95 to 90. Of those patients, 17 were being treated in intensive care units and nine required ventilators.

The National Weather Service says six inches of snow fell in Sioux City yesterday. Meteorologists at Siouxland News CBS 14/Fox 44 report many areas received much more snow than expected due to a band of extremely heavy snow that set up in central and eastern Siouxland yesterday morning. 

Credit National Weather Service/Sioux Falls

The weather prompted the city of Sioux City to issue a snow emergency that started this morning. Parking is prohibited on certain streets marked with a snow flake sign. Since today is an even-numbered day vehicles must park on the even-numbered side of the street on even days and on the odd side on odd days.

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