9 new COVID-19-related deaths on Wednesday, including in Walworth, Campbell

Five of South Dakota’s nine new COVID-19-related deaths were in Codington, Campbell and Walworth counties Wednesday, according to a report from the South Dakota Department of Health.

The state reported 1,270 new confirmed and probable cases — pushing the state’s active cases to 11,933.

Two new deaths were reported in both Codington and Walworth Counties. Codington County now has 12 deaths and Walworth County has four. One death was reported in Campbell County, which is the first COVID-19-related death for that county. Minnehaha, Oglala Lakota, Lake and Brookings counties reported the other deaths.

In total, 384 South Dakotans have died as a result of the virus. Of those new deaths three were women and six were men. One person was 50-59 years old; one was 60-69; one was 70-79 and six were 80 or older.

The state also saw an increase of 17 new hospitalizations from COVID-19 patients. Currently, 31.2% of the state’s supply of hospital beds are available. Currently, 412 South Dakotans are hospitalized.

Brown County reported 31 new cases, moving the county’s active cases to 386 — an increase of two from Tuesday. In all, 2,014 people have tested positive in Brown County.

Codington County reported 36 new cases on Wednesday, pushing the county total to 1,479 cases. Of those cases there are 333 active cases, an increase of 17 from Tuesday.

In the area, Spink and Kingsbury counties both reported 10 new cases, Clark County added 12 and Grant County added 14 new cases. Roberts and Hamlin counties both added six new cases and Potter County is up four. Three new cases were added in Edmunds, Day and Faulk counties. McPherson and Deuel County both added two new cases and Deuel County is up one.

In all, there were 516 recovered cases reported on Wednesday.

State epidemiologist Josh Clayton said Wednesday that there are 28 people in South Dakota who have possibly been reinfected with the disease 90 days after their first infection, raising questions about how long antibodies can fight future infections.

Rapid tests for K-12 schools

South Dakota’s K-12 school system now has access to rapid COVID-19 test kits, according to the state education department.

Roughly 28,480 Abbott BinaxNOW rapid antigen tests went out to schools across the state last week, state Ruth Raveling, the department’s spokesperson.

The tests can be administered at school, and take about 15 minutes to half an hour for results to come back, she said. They can be given by any individual who has gone through the test’s online training, she stated.

Results are then reported to the state health department’s infectious disease reporting portal set up for schools.

This effort doesn’t cancel out the state’s effort for sentinel surveillance testing though, she said. Sentinel testing is voluntary for school districts and tests random, asymptomatic adults to help epidemiologists track a disease in certain populations.

Future rapid tests will be based on availability and school use, she said.

South Dakota has more than 130,000 students in its public school system, and thousands of employees.