Beadle adds 10; DOH: No connection to state fair

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HURON — Despite low testing numbers statewide in the numbers reported by the South Dakota Department of Health (DOH) Monday, Beadle County added 10 new positive cases, bringing the county over 800, to 801, total positive cases of COVID-19.

Beadle also had nine new recovered cases announced by DOH Monday, which brings the county’s active virus cases to 109.

The county also added 153 new negative cases to the tally, but much of that is the state cleaning up “unassigned” negative tests, as many counties across the state saw their county total of negative cases go up notably, but the overall new negative cases in the state was just 643 overall.

Across the state, 198 new positive cases were reported by DOH. With two reporting days left, it is possible the state will go through the entire month of September reporting triple-digit positive cases every day of the month. The active cases in the state increased to 3,828, the highest it’s been.

Across the Heartland region, five of the seven counties in the region added new cases and one county added a new hospitalization in Monday’s numbers.

The Heartland now has recorded 64 region residents in the hospital at some point due to the virus, 1,187 total positive cases, and currently notes 215 active cases across the region.

In their twice-weekly press briefing Monday, the DOH was asked about the significant increase in cases in the Heartland region that has spiked since mid-September and the potential for relation to the State Fair.

State epidemiologist Dr. Josh Clayton stated that through contact tracing, no public notices have needed to be served due to multiple infections stemming from one event during the State Fair, before it, or after it in the Heartland region.

“The current cases in Beadle and surrounding counties aren’t connected to the State Fair,” said Secretary Kim Malsam-Rysdon.