SD Tops 8,000 Active COVID Cases; Oct Death Count Reaches 100

  The South Dakota Dept of Health says the number of active COVID-19 cases in the state set a record Sunday for the 6th straight day while the death toll from the virus in October continues to soar.

       Active cases topped the 8,000 mark for the first time at 8,012 while the number of deaths in the month reached 100. There hadn’t been more than 25 deaths in a month until last month’s 56. The total since the pandemic is now 323 deaths.

      Sunday had 658 new cases and 406 recoveries with 300 coronavirus patients hospitalized. There have been 33,269 positive cases and 24,934 recoveries since the pandemic began

      South Dakota ranks #2 in the country behind North Dakota for new cases per 100,000 population with a 2-week rolling average of 978. That’s a 63.5% increase over that time.