Brown County reports 15 new COVID cases; South Dakota cases up 5.6%
New coronavirus cases increased 5.6% in South Dakota in the week ending Sunday as the state added 475 cases. The previous week had 450 new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19.
South Dakota ranked 49th among the states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest on a per-person basis, a USA TODAY Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the latest week coronavirus cases in the United States increased 31.8% from the week before, with 796,108 cases reported. With 0.27% of the country's population, South Dakota had 0.06% of the country's cases in the last week. Across the country, 42 states had more cases in the latest week than they did in the week before.
Brown County reported 15 cases and zero deaths in the latest week. A week earlier, it had reported 17 cases and zero deaths. Throughout the pandemic it has reported 10,359 cases and 121 deaths.
Within South Dakota, the worst weekly outbreaks on a per-person basis were in Brule County with 302 cases per 100,000 per week; Gregory County with 143; and Hamlin County with 114. The Centers for Disease Control says high levels of community transmission begin at 100 cases per 100,000 per week.
Adding the most new cases overall were Minnehaha County, with 105 cases; Pennington County, with 76 cases; and Lincoln County, with 31. Weekly case counts rose in 27 counties from the previous week. The worst increases from the prior week's pace were in Brule, Beadle and Pennington counties.
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South Dakota ranked 22nd among states in share of people receiving at least one shot, with 76.6% of its residents at least partially vaccinated. The national rate is 77.7%, a USA TODAY analysis of CDC data shows. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which are the most used in the United States, require two doses administered a few weeks apart.
In the week ending Wednesday, South Dakota reported administering another 9,562 vaccine doses, including 1,561 first doses. In the previous week, the state administered 14,079 vaccine doses, including 2,257 first doses. In all, South Dakota reported it has administered 1,418,228 total doses.
Across South Dakota, cases fell in 22 counties, with the best declines in Minnehaha County, with 105 cases from 131 a week earlier; in Oglala Lakota County, with 7 cases from 16; and in Codington County, with 29 cases from 36.
In South Dakota, two people were reported dead of COVID-19 in the week ending Sunday. In the week before that, two people were reported dead.
A total of 239,110 people in South Dakota have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began, and 2,919 people have died from the disease, Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the United States 83,281,329 people have tested positive and 1,002,173 people have died.
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South Dakota's COVID-19 hospital admissions falling
USA TODAY analyzed federal hospital data as of Sunday, May 22.
Likely COVID patients admitted in the state:
Last week: 61
The week before that: 74
Four weeks ago: 61
Likely COVID patients admitted in the nation:
Last week: 53,333
The week before that: 49,215
Four weeks ago: 39,443
Hospitals in 31 states reported more COVID-19 patients than a week earlier, while hospitals in 29 states had more COVID-19 patients in intensive-care beds. Hospitals in 37 states admitted more COVID-19 patients in the latest week than a week prior, the USA TODAY analysis of U.S. Health and Human Services data shows.
The USA TODAY Network is publishing localized versions of this story on its news sites across the country, generated with data from Johns Hopkins University and the Centers for Disease Control. If you have questions about the data or the story, contact Mike Stucka at mstucka@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Aberdeen News: Brown County reported 15 additional COVID-19 cases this week this week
