December was the deadliest month yet for South Dakota from the coronavirus pandemic.
The state health department recorded 542 deaths last month, 21 more than in November.
There were 24 more deaths recorded on New Year’s Eve, bringing the state total to 1,488. That’s only the 38th highest tally in the country, but on a per capita basis it’s the 6th-highest at 167.8 deaths per 100,000 people.
The number of active confirmed cases dropped a little more yesterday with 324 new cases and 453 recoveries putting the total to 5,696 active cases.and 90,050 total cases.
There are 297 COVID-19 victims hospitalized and 21,144 people have received the COVID-19 vaccine as of 11:30 am New Year’s Eve.