PIERRE, S.D. – New COVID-19 cases continued their upward trend Thursday as state health officials confirmed nearly 400 new cases of the virus in their daily report.
The 395 new cases sent the state’s active number of cases to 2,615; up 173 from Wednesday. There were 20 new hospitalizations reported today, however with new recoveries, the number of people still hospitalized due to the virus dropped one today to 138.
Around the Black Hills area, there were 60 new cases with Pennington County accounting for the most with 35. The cumulative total for Pennington rose to 1,897 and there are 323 active cases. That is up 9 from Wednesday.
Lawrence County had the second most today, with 8 new cases, sending the total to 309 and 61 remaining active. Active cases are up 5 today in Lawrence.
Meade County added 6 new COVID-19 cases, although active cases dropped one Thursday to 89. The cumulative total number of cases in Meade since the pandemic began is 422.
Other new cases around the Black Hills area include 4 in Butte, 3 in Custer and 2 each in Fall River and Oglala Lakota counties. Overall, there were 93 new cases across West River, 302 East River.
One of the biggest spikes in new cases today was out of Hughes County, where 89 new cases of COVID-19 were reported where a cluster is being monitored within the state women’s prison.
Over a hundred inmates have tested positive at the prison in Pierre. Mass testing of inmates resulted in the Department of Corrections finding 102 active cases. There are 140 women held at the prison, according to an Aug. 31 count. Four staff members have also tested positive, with one fully recovered. Michael Winder, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections, says that the prison has placed positive cases into isolation.
There was also one new death reported today. The new death was reported out of Union County.
There were 1,868 new persons tested reported on Thursday.
