Special Report

This Is the County in the Sioux Falls, SD Metro Area With the Least COVID-19

Samuel Stebbins

Published: May 11, 2022 4:00 am

Since the first case of the omicron variant was detected in the U.S., new daily cases of COVID-19 have hit new highs. To date, 80,931,088 Americans are confirmed to have been infected with the virus — and over 980,000 have died as a result. On a per capita basis, the U.S. has one of the highest known infections rates in the world.

In the Sioux Falls metropolitan area, located in South Dakota, a total of 76,167 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 29,818 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — above the national rate of 24,737 cases per 100,000 people.

Though per capita cases of COVID-19 are higher in Sioux Falls than they are nationwide, some parts of the metro area are safer than others.

The broader Sioux Falls metro area comprises four counties or county equivalents — and of them, Turner County in South Dakota has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 1,967 confirmed infections in Turner County, or 23,802 for every 100,000 people.

Though Turner County has the lowest per capita infection rate in the Sioux Falls metro area, its per capita fatality rate is disproportionately high.

There have been a total of 750 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Turner County, above the 280 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Sioux Falls metro area.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of May 9, 2022.

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