Brown County reports 7 new COVID cases; South Dakota cases surge 34.7%
New coronavirus cases leaped in South Dakota in the week ending Sunday, rising 34.7% as 373 cases were reported. The previous week had 277 new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19.
South Dakota ranked 44th 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 33.2% from the week before, with 501,037 cases reported. With 0.27% of the country's population, South Dakota had 0.07% of the country's cases in the last week. Across the country, 43 states had more cases in the latest week than they did in the week before.
Brown County reported seven 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 10,327 cases and 121 deaths.
Within South Dakota, the worst weekly outbreaks on a per-person basis were in Aurora County with 763 cases per 100,000 per week; Kingsbury County with 162; and Marshall County with 101. 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 131 cases; Pennington County, with 47 cases; and Lincoln County, with 30. Weekly case counts rose in 25 counties from the previous week. The worst increases from the prior week's pace were in Minnehaha, Aurora and Lincoln 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 17 counties, with the best declines in Pennington County, with 47 cases from 58 a week earlier; in Brown County, with 7 cases from 17; and in Hughes County, with 3 cases from 12.
In South Dakota, three people were reported dead of COVID-19 in the week ending Sunday. In the week before that, 11 people were reported dead.
A total of 238,185 people in South Dakota have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began, and 2,915 people have died from the disease, Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the United States 81,863,725 people have tested positive and 997,526 people have died.
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South Dakota's COVID-19 hospital admissions rising
USA TODAY analyzed federal hospital data as of Sunday, May 8.
Likely COVID patients admitted in the state:
Last week: 54
The week before that: 40
Four weeks ago: 67
Likely COVID patients admitted in the nation:
Last week: 45,875
The week before that: 42,092
Four weeks ago: 37,354
Hospitals in 36 states reported more COVID-19 patients than a week earlier, while hospitals in 32 states had more COVID-19 patients in intensive-care beds. Hospitals in 35 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 seven additional COVID-19 cases this week
