Officials confirm 6 COVID-19 deaths in South Dakota Saturday

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) - South Dakota saw one of its biggest one-day jump in coronavirus-related deaths Saturday as health officials confirmed six new deaths due to COVID-19.

The deaths bring the state’s total to 183, according to the South Dakota Department of Health.

Health officials confirmed 320 additional COVID-19 cases Saturday, bringing total known cases in the state to 16,437. However, active cases remained unchanged at 2,515 due to an equal number of new recoveries.

Current hospitalizations rose by 11 to 109. This number has risen sharply over the past few days. However, officials say COVID-19 patients occupy only about four percent of the state’s hospital beds and only three percent of the state’s ICU beds.

South Dakota’s test positivity over the past week is 11.4%, according to the Department of Health.