Special Report

This is How Many People Have Died From COVID-19 in South Dakota

Samuel Stebbins

Published: June 13, 2021 5:30 am

Since the first death attributable to COVID-19 was reported in the United States on Feb. 29, 2020, an estimated 592,932 Americans have died — and that number continues to grow every day.

Adjusting for population, there have been a total of 181 COVID-19-related deaths for every 100,000 Americans nationwide. In South Dakota, deaths attributable to the coronavirus per capita are even more common than they are nationwide. Across the state, 2,023 people have died from the coronavirus, equal to about 229 deaths for every 100,000 people. Of all states — and Washington D.C. — South Dakota has the ninth highest death rate per capita.

Any number of factors contribute to variations in COVID-19 fatalities per capita across the United States. One of them is the per capita infection rate. Just as the number of deaths attributable to the virus per capita is higher in South Dakota than it is nationwide, COVID-19 infections per capita are too.

To date, there have been 124,302 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in South Dakota, equal to 14,089 infections per 100,000 people — compared to 10,109 infections per 100,000 people nationwide.

Though it is not always the case, states with higher than average COVID-19 deaths per capita are often also home to larger high-risk populations. One such group is retirement-age Americans, who are at least 90 times more likely to die from the virus if infected than those in the 18 to 29 age group. In South Dakota, 17.4% of the population are 65 and older. Nationwide, 16.5% of the population fall into that age group.

All COVID-19 data used in the story is current as of June 10, 2021.

These are all the counties in South Dakota where COVID-19 is slowing (and where it’s still getting worse).