On Wednesday night, our administration brought forth a Stay at Home order for first reading to
you as a city council. This proposed ordinance was brought in response to the rapid case
growth and spread of COVID-19 in Minnehaha and Lincoln counties. More importantly, it was
the result of the initial data we have been reviewing that showed our healthcare systems could
be operating at or above capacity during our peak, currently forecasted for mid-May.
At that meeting, we discussed how rapidly this situation changes, how data forecasting
continues to play a primary role in our response, and how 5 days between a first and second
reading can seem like 5 years in this current landscape. This situation and the warranted
responses change like nothing I have ever experienced in my life.
This morning at 8:30, our Emergency Operations Center team received an in-depth modeling
briefing from the City data teams. The data presented is a joint effort of data, information and
assumptions from the State, Avera and Sanford Health. The Council and public will see that
same presentation shortly. In this presentation, you’re going to see two key themes emerge: 1)
social distancing and mitigation strategies have a direct impact on peak hospitalization
numbers. The more you do, the lower the numbers. and 2) at our peak, our healthcare systems,
while operating at maximum capacity, feel that they can meet the current COVID demand.
That is important information to understand as it creates an opportunity for us to determine what
measures we can deploy to further flatten the curve and provide our health care partners with
more of a capacity buffer, while also providing the needed support to the businesses and
employees of our community who continue to be impacted by this pandemic. When we alleviate
the hospital capacity, we help ensure that life-saving resources and caretakers are available to
those who need them when they are needed.
Remember, we are not stopping COVID. The reality is people will die from COVID-19, people
will need ventilators, people will need ICU beds, people will need to be isolated from family. That
is a reality that we all must face right now. What we are tasked with as government leaders is to
try and control who gets sick and when, and minimize community damage during the process.
It’s a near impossible task with no winning playbook. There are, however, some smart plays we
can call based on the invisible COVID-19 opponent we are facing.
Council, I would ask that you review this data with a very open mind. The administration’s view
on what you are about to see is that our current Stay at Home Order that you will hear at a
second reading on Tuesday needs to pivot.
Based on today’s updated data, I feel that the measures we still must take to further flatten our
curve can be enacted through enhanced regulations in our existing No Lingering ordinance and
not via a Stay at Home order. We are currently working on what this could entail, but would
likely involve measures to target where the population density is highest through mandatory
mask wearing at public businesses, mandatory temperature checks for employees at large
companies, or other potential measures.
As we have said throughout our response to this, the City will continue to rely heavily on our
health care partners and on strong data modeling in our response and will continue to evolve as
we go.
That being said, public health and protecting lives has been and will continue to be my number
one priority in this entire response. There is no greater duty for an elected official than to protect

 the lives of the constituents he or she is serving. That is what drives me right now. That is what
keeps me up at night. That is why we are sharing you the data we are today.
I am thankful for the sacrifices every single person has made so far in our community to flatten
our curve and save lives. We have a large number of cases in the Sioux Falls area based on hot
spots as well as more aggressive testing than in other areas of the state and nation.
Regardless, this virus is here. Hundreds have confirmed cases and thousands of asymptotic
people are likely present in Sioux Falls. Let’s be clear about the ultimate goal, Sioux Falls. We
want this virus gone with minimal damage to the economy and minimal deaths.
Sacrifices have been made and sacrifices will continue in the weeks ahead. We are in this
pandemic together as a community and we will prevail through it as a community. Each of us
has a role to play. As a city council, our role is to look at policies impacting the whole of the
community on a macro-level for what is best for the community. I believe the actions we have
taken thus far are justified and the proposals before us in the days ahead are necessary to
protect lives and sustain our city.
With that as a backdrop, I would like to turn it over to Aileen Profir with our City GIS and Data
Department to walk through the very detailed modeling we are using to make our
recommendations to you today.