PIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem says there are 5 new positive cases of COVID-19 in the latest report.
All cases are in eastern South Dakota, including 3 new positive tests in Minnehaha, where there are now 16 cases.
Noem, however, says 16 people have recovered from the virus, so as of today, there are 30 active cases.
Noem says they are catching up swiftly on testing.
“We have 1,973 negative tests and now are down to 125 tests still pending. We anticipate by Monday, we have all our pending tests caught up. Here in South Dakota, we have two other commercial labs that have come fully online in the past week and that’s exactly what we wanted to see happen to give us more capacity in our testing.”
Meanwhile, Health Secretary Kim Malsom Rysdon says they are working very closely with Monument Health in regards to the 100-plus people exposed to COVID-19 by a caregiver who tested positive this week.
Monument Health says the female caregiver in question, who lives in Meade County, had traveled within the U.S. and they believe that is where she contracted the virus.
Monument estimates that the caregiver may have been in contact with 100 patients at the cancer center, 10 other caregivers and 2 physicians.
All involved are currently in quarantine.
