'Stop spreading fear': Kristi Noem slaps down Rachel Maddow over social distancing hunting video

Republican South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem issued a social media slap down to MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow over her attempt to criticize a humorous video the governor posted about social distancing.

Noem posted a video showing her hunting and calling it "how we do social distancing in South Dakota," on Wednesday.

Maddow thought she would use the occasion to smear the governor over the increase of the coronavirus cases in the state.

She posted the tweet with a quote from an article outlining the spike in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations that led to the state having the highest per-capita rate of hospitalizations in the United States.

Noem responded to a tweet from the progressive icon with her own missive.

"Stop spreading fear. Only 8% of South Dakota's hospital beds are occupied by COVID patients," Noem tweeted.

"We have and will continue to manage our resources to care for the people who need help. The people of South Dakota have accomplished this WITHOUT draconian lockdowns," she added.

The article that Maddow herself posted noted that Noem and the health officials in the state have repeatedly stated that they are most concerned with the rate of the coronavirus hospitalizations in South Dakota.

"We continue to track that number, which is why we aggressively ramped up our hospital capacity at the start of the pandemic," Ian Fury, a spokesperson for Noem, told the Argus Leader.

"Today, we're encouraged that only 8% of our hospital beds and 6% of our ICU beds are occupied by COVID patients," he added.

Maddow followed up on the Twitter feud with a tweet outlining an update from the South Dakota Department of Health that showed active coronavirus cases trending upward in the previous week. She did not tag the governor in the tweet.

The total number of South Dakotans to die of the virus has reached 216, while the daily positive rate had dropped to 19.9% by Friday.

Here's more about the coronavirus in South Dakota:

Gov. Noem: "This study is completely false."www.youtube.com