Brown County's COVID cases up 18.3%; South Dakota cases up 5.1%

Mike Stucka USA TODAY NETWORK
·3 min read
Phlebotomist April Aymong prepares a sample to be sent for COVID-19 testing at Salem Health Laboratory in Salem, Oregon, on July 12.
Phlebotomist April Aymong prepares a sample to be sent for COVID-19 testing at Salem Health Laboratory in Salem, Oregon, on July 12.

New coronavirus cases increased 5.1% in South Dakota in the week ending Sunday as the state added 1,574 cases. The previous week had 1,498 new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19.

South Dakota ranked 40th 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 decreased 14.2% from the week before, with 781,487 cases reported. With 0.27% of the country's population, South Dakota had 0.2% of the country's cases in the last week. Across the country, 13 states had more cases in the latest week than they did in the week before.

Brown County reported 84 cases and zero deaths in the latest week. A week earlier, it had reported 71 cases and one death. Throughout the pandemic it has reported 10,860 cases and 122 deaths.

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Within South Dakota, the worst weekly outbreaks on a per-person basis were in Todd County with 766 cases per 100,000 per week; Buffalo County with 459; and Brule County with 378. 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 327 cases; Pennington County, with 241 cases; and Brown County, with 84. Weekly case counts rose in 27 counties from the previous week. The worst increases from the prior week's pace were in Minnehaha, Todd and Lincoln counties.

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>> See how your community has fared with recent coronavirus cases

​ Across South Dakota, cases fell in 31 counties, with the best declines in Charles Mix County, with 6 cases from 46 a week earlier; in Oglala Lakota County, with 29 cases from 52; and in Deuel County, with 3 cases from 13. ​

In South Dakota, ​ seven ​ people were reported dead of COVID-19 in the week ending Sunday. In the week before that, nine people were reported dead.

A total of 251,860 people in South Dakota have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began, and 2,963 people have died from the disease, Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the United States 92,112,922 people have tested positive and 1,033,556 people have died.

>> Track coronavirus cases across the United States

South Dakota's COVID-19 hospital admissions rising

USA TODAY analyzed federal hospital data as of Sunday, Aug. 7. Likely COVID patients admitted in the state:

  • Last week: 189

  • The week before that: 171

  • Four weeks ago: 135

Likely COVID patients admitted in the nation:

  • Last week: 72,801

  • The week before that: 72,098

  • Four weeks ago: 67,603

Hospitals in 24 states reported more COVID-19 patients than a week earlier, while hospitals in 24 states had more COVID-19 patients in intensive-care beds. Hospitals in 33 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 84 additional COVID-19 cases this week this week