Gov. Kristi Noem said again Thursday that we have no evidence of community spread of the disease in South Dakota. We have no evidence of anything. We didn't complete a test for two and a half days. Only 90 tests were completed Thursday, yielding three more positive results.

It took us more than a week to find out that the Pennington County man who died was not sick in Pennington County. The governor and the Department of Health said his death was exacerbated by pre-existing conditions, but he had just returned from a recreational trip to Florida so he apparently wasn't doing too poorly. It would help to know what those pre-exisiting conditions were, as well.

Now, we have a known infected person who interacted with several local people and flew into and out of the city and officials won't even release dates more than 72 hours after they discovered his positive test. That is irresponsible.

In times of crisis, some portions of patient privacy take a back seat to public safety. We don't have to know every personal detail, but when an illness brings a pandemic to a new region of the country, we have a right to know certain things about how that person traveled and where he stayed.

Holding back information puts people more at risk and makes them feel even less secure. Knowledge is power. Government officials need to share some of that power with the people. It's time to drop the curtain and let people see what the situation really is.

Kent Bush is the editor of the Rapid City Journal.