Noem Projects COVID-19 Cases in South Dakota to Peak in June
Governor Kristi Noem says the number of COVID 19 cases in South Dakota may peak in the middle of June. That’s based on current projections and state actions so far.
Models show the state will need 5-thousand hospital beds when COVID-19 hits its peak. The projection also estimates the state will need 1,300 ventilators. Governor Noem says they are working now to get more ventilators.
South Dakota is one of five states without a stay at home order. The other are North Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska and Arkansas. Noem says a blanket lockdown as in most other states, would push South Dakota’s peak infection rate back. However, she says the state would need to sustain those measures into October.
Noem says the longer mitigation measures are put in place, the more it will flatten the curve.
“That would mean that we would have less people infected severely at one time,” Noem says. “It would lower our peak infection rate and the population numbers, but it also pushes out the date which we would need to sustain those activities to make sure we’re getting through the virus time period it’ll spend here in South Dakota. By doing that, when you flatten that curve, you make it last longer.”
Noem says the actions taken by South Dakotans already have helped to bend the curve, and reduce the number of estimated hospitalizations.
Dr. Allison Suttle is the Chief Medical Officer for Sanford Health. She says the state’s healthcare providers have agreed on a model to help them plan into the future.
“It is just a model and it will change. It depends on all of our behaviors and the virus itself and the biology of the virus, which we have to respect,” Suttle says. “I think now, more than ever, is the time to double down on staying at home. The case numbers are rising, so staying at home is even more critical."
Dr. Suttle says that means people should plan their trips carefully and limit the times they must leave their homes. She says people should even plan means ahead and avoid going to the grocery store several times a week.
COVID-19 Cases Rise to 187 in South Dakota
South Dakota has 22 new cases of COVID-19, for a total of 187. 69 patients have fully recovered, two people have died.
Minnehaha County shows the biggest jump in cases with more than a dozen newly identified. The county now has 68 cases, with 15 people who’ve recovered.
The Department of Health will continue updating its website through the weekend. That website is covid.sd.gov under the Public Health Information tab.
Updates are typically posted by noon central, 11 mountain.
SAB Biotherapeutics Receives Federal Dollars
South Dakota based SAB Biotherapeutics has received new money to add to a contract from the U.S. Department of Defense that provides treatments for the COVID-19 disease. Company researchers are using existing immunotherapies to produce antibodies to fight the virus.
President and CEO Eddie Sullivan says the result could help treat the symptoms of COVID-19 in the absence of vaccines.
“We are producing a specific antibody to this virus that can be used in patients moving forward and it will act naturally in the body's immune system to work with the rest of the immune system in order to help these patients.”
Sullivan expects their defense department contract to transition into a new stage this summer. Currently, there are no FDA-approved vaccines or therapeutics for treatment of COVID-19.
Corps of Engineers Closes Boat Ramps
Effective today boat ramps at the Big Bend Dam near Fort Thompson are closed. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is working with the Crow Creek Sioux and Lower Brule Sioux tribes.
Corps officials say the move is to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus in the area.
Closed ramps include both Right and Left Tailrace, Spillway Dike, Old Fort Thompson, Good Soldier and North Shore.
Shore fishing is still allowed.
State Health Officials Reluctant to Provide Projected Death Rates
State health officials are reluctant to address questions about the projected death rates for COVID-19. They say infection rates, mitigation efforts, and other factors make it difficult to predict…but they outlined the formula they are using.
Secretary of Health Kim Malsam-Rysdon says the department’s projections focus on predicting hospital capacity needs, but she notes previous estimates of death rates from COVID-19.
“That ranges from 0.5 to 3% of positive cases.”
Governor Noem says they won’t predict the number of fatalities because of the fluid situation. When pressed, she offers the formula state officials are using. COVID-19 may infect 30 to 70% of the state’s population and point-five to three percent of those people could die.
“We expect it could be a thousand people but we don’t know. and it all depends on how an individual’s body will react to the virus.”
The governor adds the death toll will depend on how responsible people are about social distancing recommendations and other mitigation efforts.
“If people don’t take personal responsibility for their health and those around them, if they don’t follow our recommendations, we just can’t possibly predict what the ramifications of that would be.”
There are plenty of factors that play in to how severe someone’s COVID-19 illness might be. Those include age and underlying health conditions. State epidemiologist Josh Clayton says another way to limit death totals is to increase testing.
“If we are able to test all individuals who we suspect may have COVID-19 infection, that mortality rate due to COVID-19 will be much smaller. It will be closer to 0.5 percent [of infected people.].”
State officials continue to say that 80% of people who contract the infection will have only minor symptoms, and many may not show symptoms at all.