14 South Dakotans died from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours. That ties with a record made earlier this month.
That’s according to the South Dakota Department of Health, which is reporting 973 new positive cases of COVID-19, which is a new record.
Active cases surged by 585 for a total of 9,273 individuals who have the disease.
The state remains the second highest in the nation of cases per capita over the last few weeks. According to a New York Times database, there are roughly 546 new cases per 100,000 people.
On Fox News’ Laura Ingraham show Wednesday night, Governor Kristi Noem says South Dakotans are happy.
“They appreciated the fact that we didn’t shut down their businesses,” Noem says. “We allowed them to be flexible—take care of their health, protect the public, while still taking care of their customers and employees as well. We’re doing really well in South Dakota. But, also, our economy is thriving. I think people are really recognizing that leadership has consequences. What we’re doing in South Dakota is Republican leadership.”
There are now 347 people who have died from the virus since March.
Minnehaha County has the highest number of newly identified cases with 264.