Gov. Noem: “We Will Not Be Social Distancing” At Mount Rushmore

There is a big 4th of July fireworks celebration scheduled at Mount Rushmore. Thousands of people from all over the nation will be in attendance. Even the President of the United States is scheduled to be there.

There hasn't been a fireworks display at Mount Rushmore since 2009. And lots of folks are really excited about attending the National Monument celebration this year. So much so that there was a lottery instituted to get one of the 7000 or so tickets available for the event.

With a surge in the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, there have been questions and concerns about what the procedures and regulations would be for those in attendance at Friday's Mount Rushmore display.

In an interview on FOX News Tuesday morning, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem laid out how things will be run:

"We will have a large event on July 3rd. We told those folks that have concerns that they can stay home, but those who want to come and join us, we'll be giving out free face masks, if they choose to wear one. But we won't be social distancing. We're asking them to come be ready to celebrate, to enjoy the freedoms and the liberties that we have in this country"

As of Monday, the South Dakota Department of Health reports there have been 6716 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the state along with 91 deaths.

Johns Hopkins University reports 2,683,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 so far in the United States along with 129,545 deaths.