A COVID rundown ahead of July 4 weekend
RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - The state’s COVID weekly dashboard updates every Wednesday, and COVID numbers are on the rise. For the first time since the state switched to reporting cases weekly, numbers exceed 1,200.
COVID has slowly been creeping up again and Pennington County had the highest number of cases reported in the state at 249, just ahead of Minnehaha County. And 74% of the state receiving at least one dose of the covid vaccine, and many of the state’s counties have high community spread. Monument Health’s Dr. Kurra says the rise can be attributed to a difference in variants.
Dr. Shankar Kurra, VP of Medical Affairs says, “The main reason for the rise is this Omicron variant, the BA.4 and BA.5, are different from the BA.1. And we will have to wait and see about four weeks from now if that will result in more hospitalizations, but the current rise is because there’s a new variant off Omicron.”
Kurra also adds that as we head into the holiday weekend and events in the Black Hills speed up, observe masking precautions in crowded areas.
Copyright 2022 KEVN. All rights reserved.