HURON — Beadle County continued a week-long climb in active cases over Wednesday and Thursday, while the South Dakota Department of Health (DOH) weekly report from K-12 schools and colleges across the state showed marked improvement in infection rates within schools.
The state added 883 new positive cases over the two days along with 11 new deaths and 855 new recovered cases. The active cases in the state increased slightly to 5,696.
Beadle County added 10 new positive cases and nine recovered cases over Wednesday and Thursday. Active cases in the county increased to 81.
This week’s new cases already rank as the most new cases reported in a week since early March.
Beadle added three new hospitalizations over the two days, bringing the total hospitalized in the county to 84. One person is actively hospitalized in Beadle County, with DOH indicating that person is currently in ICU on a ventilator.
The Heartland Region added 22 new positive cases and 23 new recovered cases over the two days. Active cases in the region are at 170.
The weekly report from the state’s K-12 schools and the state’s colleges, universities, and technical schools continued to show significant decline in new positive cases.
The state’s 899 K-12 schools registered the lowest weekly infection rate since all schools were in session, reporting 186 new positive cases to DOH. This brought the overall cases reported by K-12 schools to 3,002 in the school year.
K-12 schools in the state reported 486 active infections as of October 16, with 63 schools in the state reporting three or more active infections.
The state’s 15 institutes of higher learning had essentially the same report as the previous week, noting 27 new positive cases after recording 28 new positive cases the week prior.
Colleges in the state report 51 active cases, with just two of the 15 schools reporting more than three active cases on campus.
