An attempt to re-litigate the nation’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic failed Tuesday in the House Health and Human Services Committee.
On a 12 to 0 vote, the committee sent the 11-page HCR6012 to the 41st legislative day, thus killing it.
Republican Rep. Aaron Aylward from Harrisburg sponsored the resolution.
He said the lengthy resolution was “simply a history of some situations revolving around the time of COVID-19.”
Chad Bishop from Sioux Falls came to Pierre to support the bill.
He questioned the wisdom and efficacy of the federal government’s crash program to find a COVID-19 vaccine. He says he believed the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, lied about COVID-19. Both Bishop and the resolution agreed with U.S. Sen. Rand Paul’s criminal referrals of Fauci.
Opponents disagreed with the resolution’s premise.
They said the resolution was a mix of opinion and unverified claims, with some factual statements about what happened from 2020 to 2022 with the pandemic.
“Nobody outside of this bubble is talking about it,” said lobbyist Tim Rave with the South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organizations. “There’s nobody talking about shutting things down.”
Republican Rep. Taylor Rehfeldt from Sioux Falls, a certified nurse anesthetist, said she was bothered about healthcare workers’ and teachers’ lack of recognition for their efforts to help and care for people during the pandemic.
“We’ve seen bills come forward, and there is no acknowledgment of the healthcare heroes, the teacher heroes, the individuals that were in long-term care facilities watching people die,” Rehfeldt said. “People were trying to do their best to take care of people, to make sure people weren’t dying, to make sure that we are saving as much as we possibly could.”
Committee chair, Republican Rep. Kevin Jensen from Canton, said he wished the resolution was more “targeted.” He said he placed “no blame” on the medical community’s response to COVID-19.
If passed, the resolution would not have had the force of law but would have stated the viewpoint of the legislature.