Update on COVID-19 pandemic in South Dakota
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HURON — While the final weekly COVID-19 report of July from the South Dakota Department of Health indicated one of the better months of the pandemic overall, it still indicated some notable upward trends in infections and active cases.
In the 17 months of the state’s battle with the virus, July was the fourth-worst month in month-over-month increase in new cases for the state at 197% increase from June’s 345 new cases to July’s 680 new cases.
The 293% increase in active cases to 434 active cases from 148 at the end of June is the fourth-highest encountered by the state month-over-month in the last 17 months.
The weekly DOH report showed 268 new positives across the state, two new deaths, and 122 new recovered cases.
In Beadle County, the weekly report showed one new positive case and no new recovered cases. The county currently has two active virus cases.
After having just one new positive case in the entire month of June, Beadle County reported four new positive cases in the month of July. The county has not reported a COVID-related death since March.
No deaths have been reported in the entire seven-county Heartland Region for two months as well. The region stayed fairly consistent month-over-month, with 10 new positive cases in June and 11 in July.
The region reports six active cases among the seven counties after Wednesday’s DOH report.
Vaccines continue to move slowly across the state, with 4,014 first-time recipients of the vaccine in the past week. In all, the state has administered 710,033 doses of vaccine to 378,903 persons. By percentage, 58.4% of the eligible population has received a dose of the vaccine, with 53.9% of the eligible population now fully vaccinated. By total population, the state has fully vaccinated 39.6% of the population, based on the reported numbers from the DOH.
Beadle County’s vaccination rates similarly inched upward with 88 first-time recipients in the county over the past week, though that is nearly double the previous week’s total of 46. The county has administered 14,655 doses of vaccine to 7,836 persons as of Wednesday’s DOH report. Fully vaccinated in the county now number 7,442, which equates to 49.6% of the county’s eligible population and 40.2% of the entire county’s population now fully vaccinated.
