PIERRE, S.D. – It was another deadly COVID-19 report from state health officials Wednesday.
The South Dakota Department of Health reported 30 new COVID-19 related deaths. The uptick follows a couple days of no deaths reported from state health officials. South Dakota Health Secretary Kim Malsom-Rysdon says “when we report deaths, we report when they are certified by a medical provider and provided through our vital record system and so there is a timeframe between when the event occurs and they have five days to actually certify that death.”
Across West River, there were 4 deaths each reported out of Lawrence and Oglala Lakota and one each reported out of Butte, Custer and Pennington.
New cases today totaled 1,387 with 296 of those probable. Active cases soared back up over 19,000 to 19,240 and hospitalizations also increased by 11 to 593 Wednesday. COVID-19 patients account for 47.5-percent of I.C.U. beds statewide and 35.1-percent across the Black Hills healthcare system. Available adult I.C.U. beds across the Black Hills remain low at 16.2-percent.
New cases across West River totaled 459 with Pennington County accounting for the most with 226. Pennington County has 7,385 total cases with 2,148 remaining active.
Meade County added 39 new cases today sending the total to 1,504 with 372 active.
Lawrence County recorded 35 new cases, giving them a total of 1,725 with 515 active.
Twelve new cases were reported in Butte County where the cumulative total hit 633 with 178 active.
Other new cases include 35 in Oglala Lakota, 23 in Todd, 15 I Custer, 10 in Gregory, 7 in Perkins, 6 each in Fall River, Corson, Stanley, Haakon, Tripp and Mellette, 4 each in Ziebach and Bennett, 3 in Jackson and 2 in Dewey.
