Handful of US states call for prayer, not confinement

Faith in divine protection, defending the economy, or simply an ideological stance: A handful of rural US states, many fierce supporters of President Donald Trump, have stubbornly refused to issue stay-at-home orders despite the ravages of coronavirus.

Two of them -- South Dakota and Iowa -- have however officially called for days of collective prayer against the disease as Easter approaches.

South Dakota's Republican governor Kristi Noem justified her decision to buck the nationwide trend of confinement orders declaring that "the people themselves are primarily responsible for their safety."
Comparing stay-at-home orders to "draconian measures much like the Chinese government has done," the 48-year-old from a farming family in the Great Plains officially proclaimed Wednesday a "Statewide Day of Prayer... for an end to this pandemic."
Downplaying the effectiveness of any statewide policy, he said that even if containment were enacted, exemptions for essential services would still mean "700,000 Arkansans would get up tomorrow morning and go to work."