South Dakota reported 1,482 confirmed new COVID-19 cases on Friday, the third-largest single day total behind Thursday and October 30th.
There were also 1,750 recoveries and one death, dropping the number of active cases by 95 to 18,627. There have been 58,920 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in South Dakota along with 556 deaths.
The state has reported the nation’s second-worst number of new cases per capita over the last two weeks, according to Johns Hopkins researchers. Roughly one out of every 50 people has tested positive in the last two weeks.
The number of hospitalizations inched up Friday to 556 people, another new record. Health officials say COVID-19 patients occupy roughly 20% of the state’s hospital beds and 33% of the state’s ICU beds. About 33% of both are still available.