PIERRE, S.D. – After a couple of days of lower cases, new cases of COVID-19 shot back up to 905 Wednesday.
Also back up today were the number of COVID-19 related deaths. State health officials reported 39 new deaths among cases Wednesday, sending the total since the pandemic began to 1,300.
Health officials today announced they have begun breaking down COVID-19 related deaths. They are now separating deaths directly caused by COVID-19 from deaths among people who have had COVID-19. On the state website, “deaths among people with COVID-19” is described by “reflects people who died with COVID-19, but COVID-19 may not have been the cause of death listed on the death certificate.”
State epidemiologist Joshua Clayton explains that when the 1,300 deaths today are broken down, Dr. Clayton 1,159 are listed as deaths directly caused by COVID-19. The other 141 deaths are listed as deaths among people with COVID-19.
The state continued to see a drop in active cases and hospitalizations. Active cases fell 532 today to 10,987. The number of people hospitalized fell by 23 to 412.
New cases across West River totaled 318 with Pennington County recording the most with 125. In Pennington County, the cumulative total rises to 10,218 and active cases are 1,383.
Meade County added 32 new cases Wednesday for a total of 2,074 and 278 cases remain active.
Lawrence County had 26 new cases, sending the total to 2,368 with 284 remaining active.
Other new cases across West River Wednesday included 32 in Dewey, 26 in Oglala Lakota, 9 each in Fall River and Tripp, 8 each in Stanley and Ziebach, 7 each in Butte, Custer and Lyman, 6 in Todd, 5 in Haakon, 4 in Perkins, 2 each in Jackson and Mellette, and one each in Harding, Corson and Gregory.
There were 2,333 new persons tested reported on Wednesday.
