PIERRE — The South Dakota Department of Health (DOH) held its twice-weekly press briefing on Thursday and identified an outbreak of COVID-19 at the women’s prison in Pierre. The current outbreak includes 102 prisoners and staff who have tested positive for the virus, though multiple have already recovered.
In questioning, DOH Secretary Kim Malsam-Rysdon did state that no connection has been found between the women’s prison and recent case increases in K-12 schools in Pierre and the surrounding area.
Statewide, South Dakota had its second-largest single day of new positive COVID-19 cases, with 395 new cases reported Thursday.
The state also added nine new deaths to its COVID-19 numbers over the past two days, bringing the overall death total for the state to 193. Currently, the active cases in the state are at 2,615 after adding more than 230 active cases in the past two days to the rolls.
In Beadle County, Wednesday and Thursday added 13 total new positives to the county’s tally and pushed the active cases in the county over 30 to 31 after Thursday’s numbers. Beadle added a new hospitalization on Wednesday as well, the 25th hospitalization due to COVID-19 in the county.
Across the Heartland, a total of 33 new positive cases were added to the region’s totals over Wednesday and Thursday among the seven counties. Overall, the Heartland has reported 935 total positive cases. With 16.44% of the region now tested, there are currently 92 active cases in the region.
