PIERRE — On the same day that the state had its largest single-day testing results come through, South Dakota Department of Health officials dropped a bombshell in the question-and-answer portion of its media call Tuesday morning.
The state saw 67 new positive cases to take the overall total to 4,653 cases. The mass testing, completed last week at senior care facilities in the state, came back with 2,043 negative tests, and with 2,110 test results released Tuesday, it was the largest number revealed by 450 tests.
The state has now tested 4.23% of its residents.
Further mass testing from last week and continued mass testing at senior care facilities to take place this week, including facilities in the Beadle County area, are expected to see those numbers continue to climb.
The big news of the day came when state epidemiologist Dr. Josh Clayton revealed when questioned about people who have tested positive, been deemed as “recovered,” re-testing and again testing positive.
He revealed that this has been shown by “a number of people” in the state, though he declined to cite specific examples due to HIPPAA concerns.
While no definitive studies have been completed, it has been widely believed that COVID-19 will not re-infect a host once the person has had the virus and has been deemed “recovered” according to Centers for Disease Control guidelines.
Dr. Clayton noted that that repeat positives would be seen as new cases in the state.
Dr. Clayton also revealed that Link Snacks, Inc. (LSI) has 58 cases at its facility in Alpena, though 12 of those confirmed cases have now been deemed recovered.
He stated that the cases at Dakota Provisions are less than 40, and the last confirmed number received from that facility was from Dakota Provisions human resources director Mark Heuston on Friday during the Beadle County COVID-19 unified task force meeting, when he stated that there were nine cases at the plant.
Beadle County added 19 new positive tests to reach 150 total positive tests. The county also had 17 negative tests and six recovered cases added on the day as well as one positive.
The hospitalized case is the sixth in total and third in the last 10 days for the county. With recent additional testing, Beadle is up to having 2.6% of all residents tested.
The Heartland region is up to 199 positive cases, with 139 of those active cases.
The region has seen 2.67% of residents tested and should see that rise this week as mass testing for area senior care facilities takes place beginning today or tomorrow, depending on the facility.
