By Carrie Moritz, Gazette
Daily COVID-19 case numbers in Minnehaha County have continued trending down, though leaders are still calling for diligence in following all CDC guidelines so those trends do not reverse.
Statewide, active case numbers were at 16,783. In Minnehaha County, active cases were at 3,923. Since March, over 87,038 people in South Dakota have tested positive.
Of those, 4,921 people have required hospitalization and 1111 have died.
South Dakota crossed the 1,000-death threshold on Thursday, December 3, when the SD Dept of Health posted 38 new deaths. So far in December, over 160 people have died from COVID-19 in South Dakota.
Across the United States, over 283,000 people have died, leaving the US with a 1.9% mortality rate, according to Johns Hopkins. With over 14 million positive cases, the US has the highest case rate in the world.
Sanford CMO Dr. Mike Wilde cautioned on Monday that data from Thanksgiving is likely to start being seen this week. He’s hopeful there won’t be a large increase in South Dakota, but encouraged people to start talking about their holiday travel plans, understanding the risks involved with gatherings.
At the same time, while he said there is capacity at Sanford, they’re still seeing 70-90 people enter inpatient care daily.
Avera’s CMO Dr. Mike Elliot noted that overall, caseloads are 3x their normal, and inpatients are staying much longer than most other types of cases.
Dr. Elliot and Dr. Wilde spoke at a press conference Monday that was held with Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken and Public Health Director Jill Franken.
All were looking to the future with optimism as the reality of a vaccine starts to settle in. An FDA advisory committee will meet today (Thursday) to decide whether the application from Pfizer for emergency approval will be granted. The first doses in South Dakota may be given as early as next week. South Dakota will only be receiving 7,800 doses initially.
The same advisory committee will be meeting on December 17 to decide whether to grant approval for Moderna’s vaccine. A third vaccine from AstraZeneca/Oxford is still in development and has not applied for an emergency use application yet.
Both vaccines will be given via injection, and at this time, require two doses 28 days apart to ensure full immunity. Vaccine experts and trial participants are warning that 1 in 10 people may experience flu-like side effects after each dose, including soreness at the injection point, headaches, chills, or body aches. However, those side effects should only last a short time, and both Pfizer and Moderna’s studies have not shown any safety concerns.
Both vaccines have shown a 95% rate of effectiveness. In the Moderna study, of 196 positive COVID-19 cases, 185 were in the placebo group. All of the severe cases were only in the placebo group.
Dr. Elliot cautions that it will still be a while before vaccinations are widespread enough to significantly drop illness rates, however.
“It’s a tool in our toolbox,” Dr. Elliot said. It is not, as people want to believe, a magic bullet, he said. Over 70%, or 230 million people, in the United States will have to be vaccinated before herd immunity will take effect. It is projected that vaccination will be widespread by the end of March or April.
This means utilizing all of the CDC guidelines, including social distancing, limiting gatherings, masking, and handwashing, will still need to happen for the foreseeable future. Each measure provides one more layer of protection against giving or acquiring the virus.
TenHaken acknowledged that leaders are dealing with three issues in this environment: the pandemic itself, misinformation/disinformation about the pandemic, and the politicization of the pandemic.
“Each of those things requires a different strategy,” he said. “My talking point all along has been, hey, we’re not asking people to join the draft, we’re not asking people to give up their children, we’re asking you to cover your face when you go into a restaurant for a little while.”
