A COVID-19 REPORTÂ FOR THE NEW YEAR
Editor’s Note: The following report comes from former Courier publisher Tim L. Waltner, who has been tracking COVID-19 numbers since the onset of the pandemic almost two years ago. The data he has collected has been based on regular online updates by the South Dakota Department of Health; that data is being used for this summary.
Perhaps the best indication of the 2021 story of COVID-19 is what happened last summer.
As July approached, the South Dakota Department of Health (SDDOH) announced its daily weekday updates were being replaced by weekly reports. That decision reflected the steady drop in new cases, hospitalizations and deaths related to COVID-19 in South Dakota in the first half of the year.
On July 7, the Courier reported in a Facebook post:
Today marks the start of a shift from daily to weekly Covid-19 updates from the South Dakota Department of Health. The reports began with daily updates in March 2020. In recent months the reports have been provided only weekdays. Last week the state announced that updates will now be provided every Wednesday by noon CT. It will include cases reported by 1 p.m. Tuesday each week.
The number of total cases of Covid-19 in Hutchinson, McCook and Turner counties remains 2,916 with just 1 active case in the Wednesday, July 7 report from the South Dakota Department of Health. It reflects the change in numbers from Friday, July 2.
The state reports 59 new confirmed and probable cases statewide today; the total stands at 124,641 compared to 124,582 last Friday.
The number of active cases statewide grew by 11 to 178.
Current hospitalizations statewide are up 2 to 27.
One new Covid-19-related death was reported; the statewide total is 2,039.
The average number of cases reported daily in the month of June statewide had dropped to fewer than nine. Because of that there was widespread hope that the trend would continue, COVID-19 would wane and there would be a return to normal.
But by mid-August, the SDDOH had returned to returned to daily updates (Monday-Friday) and that’s been the norm since.
On Aug. 13, the Courier’s Facebook page reported:
South Dakota Department of Health has returned to daily reports on Covid-19 weekdays after switching to weekly reports July 1.
The number of total cases of Covid-19 reported in Hutchinson, McCook and Turner counties is up 1 to 2,939 from yesterday in the Aug. 13 report. The report shows 15 active cases locally.
The state reports 139 new confirmed and probable cases statewide since yesterday’s report; the total stands at 126,746.
The number of active cases statewide today is 1,270; that’s the highest total since May 6 (1,309).
Current hospitalizations statewide remain at 76.
One new Covid-19-related death was reported; the statewide total is 2,052.
By the end of August, the average daily increase in cases in South Dakota new cases reported daily had swelled to 234. By September it was 421.
During the month of December, the average increase daily in cases in South Dakota stood at 415.
Another way to look at this is that in the first half of 2021 — January through June — the daily statewide increase in new cases was 136. In the second half of the year — July through December — it was 305.
South Dakota, of course, is not alone in this. It’s part of a worldwide trend fueled by a combination of new variants in the virus — delta and omicron, for example — and lax precautions taken by people, like refusing vaccinations, not wearing masks and not social distancing.
In a column published by John Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, Lisa Maragakis, M.D., M.P.H., an infectious disease specialist there noted:
“The overall pattern of the coronavirus pandemic so far has been a series of COVID-19 waves: surges in new cases followed by declines.
“Several factors have had an impact on whether new COVID-19 cases are increasing or declining in particular locations … the effectiveness of vaccines over time, human behavior, infection prevention policies, changes to the coronavirus itself, and the number of people who are vulnerable because they have not developed some immunity, whether from natural infection or through vaccination.”
“A large spike in U.S. COVID-19 cases occurred over the winter months of 2020–21 when people traveled and gathered for the winter holidays. The arrival of FDA-authorized vaccines in December 2020 helped bring new infection levels back down in many areas through the spring of 2021.
“Another surge began in July 2021 as the contagious delta variant began to circulate and eventually become dominant. Waning immunity and relaxation of public policies and infection prevention measures also played a role.
“Cases tend to rise in areas where:
n ewer people are vaccinated, which means a large number of people are vulnerable to infection.
n ewer people are wearing masks.
n ore people are gathering indoors to eat, drink, celebrate and socialize without physical distancing.
“Also, places where people live or work closely together (multigenerational households, long-term-care facilities, prisons and some types of businesses) tend to see more spread of the coronavirus.
“Fortunately, vaccination, even among those who acquire infections, is very effective at preventing serious illness, hospitalization and death from COVID-19,” Lisa Maragakis wrote.
The Jan. 3 report from the SDDOH on vaccinations shows that 495,547 South Dakotans age 5 and older have received the vaccine. It shows 67.7% of those eligible have received one shot, 55.7% have two shots and 26.4% have received the booster.
It’s worth noting vaccinations for those living on Indian reservations are administered by Indian Health Services and not included in the state report.
Here were the total local vaccinations by the state on Monday:
Hutchinson County – 4,364, 1,963 all three shots;
McCook County – 3,177, 1,095 all three shots;
Turner County – 4,568, 1,759 all three shots.
