South Dakota Surpasses 1,000 COVID-19 Cases
South Dakota is reporting 180 new COVID-19 cases, sending the state total over a thousand.
There are 1,168 total COVID-19 cases in the state. That total includes 51 people who’ve been hospitalized and 329 who’ve fully recovered. The state has not updated the death total from six, but Que Pasa Sioux Falls is reporting one Smithfield Foods employee has died from coronavirus complications.
Minnehaha County saw 166 new cases. 80 of those are employees of the Smithfield plant in Sioux Falls.
Smithfield employees account for a total of 518 COVID-19 cases. People who’ve had close contact with those employees—like family members--are another 126 of the state’s cases.
A group of CDC occupational experts are arriving in Sioux Falls today. Secretary of Health Kim Malsam-Rysdon says the state requested their help evaluating measures the Smithfield plant can take to reopen safely. She says Smithfield leaders are cooperating with those efforts.
The Sioux Falls plant is closed until further notice.