Special Report

These Are the Counties in the Rapid City, SD Metro Area With the Least COVID-19

Samuel Stebbins

Published: October 20, 2021 3:00 am

Following a months long surge driven by the delta variant, new daily cases of COVID-19 are falling once again in the United States. To date, 44,501,723 Americans have been infected with the virus — and 716,720 have died as a result. On a per capita basis, the U.S. has one of the highest known infections rates in the world.

In the Rapid City metropolitan area, located in South Dakota, a total of 25,569 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 17,598 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — above the national rate of 13,602 cases per 100,000 people.

Though per capita cases of COVID-19 are higher in Rapid City than they are nationwide, some parts of the metro area are safer than others.

The broader Rapid City metro area comprises three counties or county equivalents — and of them, Custer County in South Dakota has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 1,291 infections in Custer County, or 15,059 for every 100,000 people.

Not only does Custer County have the lowest per capita infection rate in the Rapid City metro area, it also has a relatively low per capita fatality rate.

There have been a total of 175 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Custer County, below the 206 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Rapid City metro area.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of Oct. 18, 2021.

These are all the counties in South Dakota where COVID-19 is slowing (and where it’s still getting worse).