South Dakota Leads U.S. With Largest COVID Case Increase
South Dakota is making national news again with the recent increase in Covid-19 cases. The New York Times is reporting that there has been a 312% increase in COVID-19 cases over the last 14 days in South Dakota.
This ranks South Dakota #1 in the nation for COVID-19 case increases. The next most infectious state over the last 2 weeks has been West Virginia which had 221 new cases a day and 118 hospitalizations.
The spike in Covid-19 cases comes just days after the end of the 10-day Sturgis Motorcycle Rally which drew over an estimated 500,000 people from all over the nation and the world.
Newsweek reports that South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem told the Associated Press she does not plan to ramp up messaging encouraging vaccination and issuing mask mandates and such actions go beyond what she sees as the governor's scope of power.
The South Dakota counties that have seen the biggest spike in Covid cases in the last 14 days include Pennington with 53 Average Daily Cases, Minnehaha with 40, Mede with 22, Lawrence with 14, and Lincoln with 13.
According to the South Dakota Department of Health as of Friday, Aug. 20 the state had 301 New Confirmed Cases, 2,589 Active Cases, and 127 Currently Hospitalized.
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