by Carrie Moritz, Gazette
Mitigation efforts put in place in communities across South Dakota during the peak of COVID-19 infections in November appear to continue helping the decline in cases, despite a significant rise in cases across the rest of the United States.
On Tuesday, the U.S. hit a milestone of 400,000 deaths as a result of COVID-19. In South Dakota, 179 people have died in January so far, raising the state's total to 1,667 people lost to the pandemic. Of that total, 801 people were residents of a long-term care facility.
Overall in South Dakota, active cases have continued to decline, with a 15-day average of 268 new cases per day in the first two weeks of January. On Tuesday, there were 4,232 active cases across the state. Minnehaha County, which has been the county in SD most affected by the pandemic, had an active case rate of 992 cases on Tuesday. The last time Minnehaha County's rates were under 1000 was on October 8.
"The burden of COVID-19 in the United States is still very high," said SD state epidemiologist Dr. Joshua Clayton on Wednesday, January 13. He was glad that the overall case numbers in South Dakota were down from November's peak, where the state saw over 1,400 cases per day during the week of November 9-15.
Vaccinations have continued, with 47,647 people, or 5.7% of SD population, having received at least their first dose. On Monday, the South Dakota Department of Health opened up vaccinations to the first part of Phase 1D, which include those aged 65 and over. This cohort consists of approximately 250,000 people. The state currently receives approximately 11,000 doses per week, which means it will take some time to move through this phase.
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