PIERRE, S.D. – It was another record high day Wednesday for not only new COVID-19 cases, but for active cases and hospitalizations.
State health officials reported 876 new cases of COVID-19 today. Of those 813 are confirmed and 63 are considered probable. That number is a new daily high for new cases.
Also reaching a new high today, the number of active cases, which rose 560 to 6,604.
Three new deaths were reported today out of Codington, Douglas and Pennington counties. The new deaths add to what is now the deadliest month since the pandemic started and there are still 16 days left. The state’s death toll is now 291.
As for hospitalizations, there are 52 new hospitalizations today and coupled with new recoveries, the total hospitalization rate rose 1 today to 303.
A day after state health officials reported hospitals in Sioux Falls had no open general-care beds available, they stated during their press conference today there was an error on the website indicating that. State epidemiologist Dr. Joshua Clayton explains.
“The total hospital beds for all facilities did not get pulled into the dashboard from the tele-tracking file. We were able to resolve that issue by last evening and we do anticipate future updates will not be affected.”
Today, health officials report nearly 24-percent of general-care beds open in Sioux Falls. In western South Dakota, available general-care hospital beds are 24-percent and available I.C.U. beds total 29-percent. COVID-19 patients account for 14-percent of general-care and I.C.U. beds in the Black Hills.
New cases across West River totaled 236 Wednesday, and Pennington County had the most with 85. Pennington County has a total of 3,292 cases with 681 remaining active.
Lawrence County had the second most new cases today with 27. Lawrence County has 596 total with 128 active.
Meade County reported 12 new cases Wednesday, sending their total to 737 with 131 remaining active.
Every county West River reported at least one new case today. The breakdown was 23 in Todd, 15 in Oglala Lakota, 10 each in Custer and Dewey, 8 in Tripp, 7 each in Butte and Jackson, 6 in Fall River, 5 in Bennett, 4 each in Haakon and Gregory, 3 in Stanley, 2 each in Perkins, Ziebach and Mellette and one each in Harding, Corson, Lyman and Jones counties.
There were just over 42-hundred new tests performed for the latest reporting period.
