The Monday COVID-19 report from the South Dakota Dept of Health had some good news as there were no deaths and recoveries outnumbered new cases to drop the number of active cases.
There were 2,118 recoveries and only 821 new confirmed cases to lower the number of active cases by more than 1,200 to 18,139. There have been 62,521 total confirmed cases and 47,495 recoveries.
The number of hospitalizations did increase by 7 to 560. The Dept of Health says COVID-19 patients occupy 20.6% of the state’s hospital beds and 32.2% of its ICU beds, but with 36.8% of hospital beds and 33.9% of ICU beds still available.
The lack of new deaths came after a weekend that included a single-day record 53 deaths on Sat and another 23 on Sunday.
There have been 219 COVID-19 deaths so far this month, topping the previous monthly record of 202 last month. Nearly 3/4ths of the state’s 644 deaths have come in the last 2-½ months.