Child deaths tied to COVID-19 in South Dakota now 2. The second is from Minnehaha County.

Shelly Conlon, Sioux Falls Argus Leader
·2 min read

South Dakota's active cases continue to rise, and a second child between the ages of 0-9 has died, as the state reported its fifth day of record high COVID-19 case counts Tuesday.

The death is the state's second of this age tied to the ongoing pandemic, with the first death of a child younger than 10 reported last week. The DOH said the first death was an infant under the age of 1 out of Pennington County.

The health department confirmed to the Argus Leader on Tuesday afternoon the new death was of an individual younger than 10 in Minnehaha County. COVID-19 was the underlying factor, health department spokesman Daniel Bucheli stated via email.

"For patient confidentiality reasons, no further information will be made available," he said.

The state's overall total for COVID-19 deaths is now 2,560. Deaths attributed to COVID-19 on the Department of Health website can take several days to appear after they are reported.

More than 12,892 children between ages 0 and 9 have tested positive for the virus since the pandemic began in March 2020.

More: South Dakota's first child COVID-19 death was an infant, according to Department of Health

A health care professional monitors a COVID-19 patient at Sanford Hospital.
A health care professional monitors a COVID-19 patient at Sanford Hospital.

Currently, South Dakota is reporting 28,813 active cases. The state reported 2,265 new and probable cases Tuesday. Data for the health department is updated daily Monday through Friday by about noon, and includes cases totals reported by 1 p.m. from the previous day. Case counts reported Tuesday typically include numbers reported to the state Saturday and Sunday. Monday, however, was a holiday and state offices were closed.

The last recorded high for active cases was Friday, with the overall active case count at 26,835, according to the data. Last Thursday, the state reported 24,796 active cases and last Wednesday, the state reported 22,743 active cases. Before Wednesday, the previous high was 20,475 on Jan. 11 and 19,240, which was reported by the department on Nov. 18, 2020.

All but one county in South Dakota right now is classified as having high community spread of the disease, according to the health department. Jones County is classified as having low community spread

Meanwhile, hospitalizations dropped by one, to 348, from Friday.

The amount of available, staffed hospital beds in South Dakota has fallen to 28%, the health department states. Less than 65% of ICU adult and pediatric beds, COVID and non-COVID, are occupied, according to the health department.

And the percent of the total eligible population that's fully vaccinated is 58%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Second child death related to COVID-19 reported in South Dakota