South Dakota Reaches Another COVID-19 Milestone

South Dakota has reached another coronavirus milestone as the state passes 6,000 total cases on the Wednesday update.

Officials report a Lincoln County man in his 80s is the latest victim, bringing the total number of deaths to 78.

An additional 84 cases were logged on Wednesday as total known cases rise to 6,050.  Active cases ticked up to nine to 829.

Hospitalizations decreased by one to 91.  Dakota News Now reports that hospitalizations been around that number for many weeks.

The amount hospitalizations aren't taxing the state's available COVID-19 hospital beds as officials say only about 4% of the beds are occupied.

Under 5% of the 1,786 tests processed by the state came back positive on Wednesday.  Officials say there has been an increase in overall tests compared to recent days when tests were around 1,000 per day.

Beadle County leads the state in new cases on Wednesday with 15.  Minnehaha County added 11 new cases.

Minnehaha County has reported 3,499 total positive cases and 3,238 recovered cases.  A total of 16,965 tests have come back negative in the county since testing began.

Statewide, 5,143 people have recovered from COVID-19 since the pandemic reached South Dakota.  A total of 62,938 tests have come back negative since testing began.