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Coronavirus SD Case Update: May 1st | Brookings Co 0 Active | SD 811 Active – | Help Line 1-800-997-2880
Check the South Dakota Department of Health Covid-19 Information and Updates HERE
Brookings County – 13 Active | 13 Recovered | 13 Total Positive | 365 Negative
SD – 811 Active | 21 Deaths | 1799 Recovered | 15786 Negative | 0 Pending | 2631
Test results from the COVID.sd.gov website are from the state lab only. Private tests from healthcare providers sent to a private lab are only reported to the state if they are positive.
(March 20th) On Friday, we reached out to the South Dakota Department of Health for testing information specific to Brookings and were told, “we are not able to provide additional information beyond what is posted to our website”.
(March 21st) Coronavirus has advanced world wide and here at home while medical supplies dwindle. A local social media post claimed that Brookings was out of COVID-19 tests. As of Saturday March 21st and we cannot substantiate the claim that Brookings is out of COVID-19 test kits. We surmise Brookings could be low on supplies according to some social media posts. Two of Brookings testing facilities are closed for the weekend and could not be reached and the third had no comment.
(March 22nd) Governor Noem stated 58 test were conducted and of those 58 we have 7 new positive cases and 6 recovered cases keeping the number of active positive cases at 14. One new travel related case in Brown County and 6 new in Beadle County. The Governor did say there is a potential for community spread very shortly in Beadle County. There will be 29 new tests completed Sunday and will give the results as soon as they are available.
(March 23rd) Governor Noem announced 7 new positive cases of which 3 are hospitalized. 2 more in Beadle County and now 1 case in Codington County. One test did come from a private lab. The Governor did say SD will see an increase in cases. We will not see a peak until May or early June and according to state models 30% of the population could become infected. There were 185 unemployment claims for the week of March 2nd. Noem said 16 people have been added to the 11 existing staff members and 23 new phone lines were added to the existing 92 to better handle unemployment claims. The Governor did add in the coming days it we become difficult to continue to give details on everybody that will test positive for COVID-19 because of more and more positive cases and to follow the COVID-19 website for updates. Noem did say some states with community spread have already stopped testing and there will come a time when we will need to do that in SD too. You should choose to follow Governor Kristi Noem on Facebook to hear all the details from each update.
(March 23rd 11:00 am) Yesterday I wrote a piece called “Is COVID-19 Already Here?” By “here” I am talking about Brookings South Dakota. I have heard it said today and it must be said again and again. It doesn’t matter if it is here or not…we must start acting like it IS! I would not be surprised to hear later today or tomorrow that Brookings County has its first case. I do not have any more access to the information than you do. So stay at home. If you leave your home wear gloves and a mask. If you do not have an N95 mask or gloves maybe you should consider staying put. If you do go out. Cover up with something. It is certainly better than nothing. Good luck.
(March 23rd 14:00) We took some time to really read about the reported cases. What are the numbers we are seeing from the SD Dept of Health? How truly accurate are they. Well we read the fine print. *Positive test results are no longer required to be sent to the CDC for confirmation. **The negative test results above represent testing conducted by the South Dakota Public Health Laboratory. It does not include results from private laboratories. Those results will be included as they become available. ***Tests currently pending at the South Dakota Public Health Lab. There are many private laboratories testing for COVID-19 which leads us to believe the numbers could be bigger. For now the the numbers from the SD Dept of Health are the numbers.
(March 23rd 16:00) Community spread has been identified in Beadle, Hughes and Lyman Counties. Community spread can be as little a single case. More tests have been completed and the results will be shared when available. Avera and Sanford Labs will now process tests. Several bars in Brookings have temporarily closed and some restaurants are still open and doing carry-out orders. Governor Noem signed an executive order with details guidelines for businesses and others. Brookings Hospital’s blood drive is 100% full! Thank you! Brookings Health System says, “BROOKINGS ROCKS!”
(March 23rd 19:00) In a report from the Collegian this afternoon, an email was sent to Hansen Hall spring break residents, telling students to monitor their health for the next 14 days because of a likely exposure. This warning and other rumored reports of positive COVID-19 cases may have citizens in a heightened state of alert, but so far Brookings does not have any confirmed cases according to the SD Dept of Health. The City of Brookings held a special City Council meeting this evening at 6:00 p.m. to act on an emergency ordinance and resolution get details here.
(March 24th) Well my ears are plastered to many media outlets and I was happy to hear Avera can process up to 200 tests a day and Sanford 400. That is good news, if we have the tests available. I also heard Brookings Hospital has 6 ventilators. Lets hope we don’t need any of them. Alpha Media has now told us our offices will be closed to the public until May 1st. G’Noem will have another update at 11:30 am. Listen on SDPB audio is much better than Facebook.
(March 24th 11:30) COVID-19 CONFIRMED IN BROOKINGS COUNTY! A search is underway for eight female inmates who walked away from a minimum-security unit in Pierre that were in the same unit as the positive testing inmate.It is not known whether they 8 were directly exposed to the sick inmate, but investigation is underway. An employee of the radio station have a bottle of hand sanitizer stolen from his vehicle last evening at a grocery store parking lot. It is certainly necessary to lock all doors. Do not trust anyone. Please lock your doors.
(March 25th 11:30) More cases for SD. On note the elderly 60+ make up only 10 cases in SD and 31 cases from 20 – 59. Brookings has only one case and Beadle County is holding at 13 with Minnehaha County confirming community spread.
(March 25th 15:40) Noticed the SD COVID-19 website is down. Its back.
(March 26th 5:45) We start another day listening to the number of positive cases! Active cases are the only numbers that matter for the general public! Recovered cases and unfortunately deaths should be subtracted from the positive number and the media should reports active cases first. SD has 13 recovered with only one death out of the 41 total positive cases. Right now SD is dealing with 27 cases, not 41. Same with rest of the world although the numbers are on a much bigger scale.
(March 26th 12:17) Brookings County holds at just 1 case. Noem says pending test should be at ZERO by Monday because of the added labs doing tests. Only 2 to 3 are currently hospitalized. Unemployment is up about 1500 applications but are starting to see that same number daily, so expect next weeks numbers to climb. No specific news on Sen. John Thune’s illness. A plan for city elections with be discussed this evening with details coming soon.
(March 26th 17:00) The USA is now #1 ahead of Italy & China 🙁 80,000+ as the world goes over 500,000 cases. Some simple math says Brookings County could see a huge increase in cases by April 2nd if our single case was exposed to the rumored number of people he or she came into contact with. The average incubation period is about 5 days with the longest is believed to be 14 days. The one positive case was acknowledged on March 24, but an email went out to SDSU students on March 23rd. Its hard to tell when he or she fell sick, but it could very easily been 5 days since the onset of the illness. Tomorrows test results could give us a better clue at what we are looking at.
(March 26th 19:30) Interesting! The Prairie Doc mentioned the website covidactnow.org and its model suggesting to public leaders and health officials an ACT NOW date. Enter Brookings zip code and we are told; to prevent hospital overload, stricter intervention must be implemented by April 5th – April 10th. Shelter in place and lock-down certainly give us the best case scenario with a limited action plan suggesting an absurd peak in hospitalizations (19,054) around May 2nd. Social distancing for 3 months suggests the peak on May 22nd with nearly 7600 hospitalizations. I share this information so you can be informed, as well as chronicle information that could affect Brookings.
(March 28th) Thune tested negative. Brookings holds at 1. SDMA says G’Noem is not doing enough to stop the spread!
(March 29th) Brookings holds at 1.
(March 30th) Covid growth continues to grow exponentially. Cases in the US double every 3 days. Deaths have increased 400%. I would hope we do not continue this trend! Math would suggest by April 13th we could have 4.4 million cases with 2.5 million dead in the Unites States alone. If I did the math correctly, and I hope I am wrong, that is astronomical. Not trying to scare anyone, just trying to make sense of it all on paper. We already have have millions of opinions, so I do not even have one. Thank goodness SD has only slow growth, but we did go from 46 to 90 much quicker than we all wanted.
(March 31st) G’ Noem introduced a new website platform with more resources with better and cleaner information. covid.sd.gov We will get 10-15 Abbott ID Now rapid test platforms. A large shipment of supplies were received from the national stockpile. At this time SD will not close its boarders. Private labs are processing medium and low priority populations today. The CDC says COVID-19 is 3 times as infectious as influenza. 101 total cases with 77 ages 0 – 59 and 24 ages 60+.
(March 31st 12:15) SD sees a drop in active cases with 7 new and 10 recovered reported today. 63 today down from 66 active.
(April 1st) We are learning more about COVID-19. Experts now say those who have tested positive and have recovered from C-19 may still carry the virus and can still pass it on to others a much as 8 days after testing negative. We are also being warned that the next two weeks could be hard.
(April 1st 11:50) Brookings County numbers are a surprise. 2 cases today with 2 cases recovered. That is odd. Add 1 case that has recovered?? I fully expected our single case to move to the recovered column over the next few days, but I don’t like hearing we had 1 case that was not reported. Will try to ask G’Noem at 2:30 today.
(April 1st 13:00) Perry Miller reported the second case was previously listed as a Kingsbury County case but the person actually lives in Brookings County and has recovered.
(April 1st 14:30) Noem mentioned in the presser that we may not see our peak until July or August.
(April 2nd) 36 new cases today. Brookings: no new cases. Sigh of relief. Lets hope the ice stays away too. Governor Noem will have another press conference at 3:00 pm today.
(April 2nd 15:35) Governor Noem said we can not stop the virus. Only slow it down. Sioux Falls and Rapid City will get temporary hospitals from the SD National Guard. The temporary hospitals will not be MASH units. The State urges all who need to register for unemployment claims do so online at raclaims.sd.gov to file. Keep your username and password. Weekly claims are suggested.
(April 2nd 20:00) COVID-19 is silent. An infected person is most contagious 1 to 3 days before showing symptoms and possibly 8 days after testing negative. There is now belief C-19 may travel through the air.
(April 3rd) I have found there are 2 things that C-19 will not stand in the way of: ROAD CONSTRUCTION and BITCHING! Does it really matter what Governor Noem chooses to wear? I find myself a bit more relaxed watching Kristi communicate to the state in a cap, snap shirt and jeans. You may not agree, but I don’t care. To those who are never happy, with anything, please run for office, please!! Press Conference at at 13:00 today.
(April 3rd 11:45) Brookings holds with ZERO active cases. 2 total with 2 recovered.
(April 3rd 13:15) Governor Noem has made it clear that we need to prepare for 265k-600k (30-70%) cases out of our total state population of 882,235. At the projected peak in June we need to be prepared for 5000 hospitalized cases with 1300 ventilators needed at the peak in mid June (we have 4400 beds and 525 ventilators). Noem said if we were to shut down the state we would be looking at the end of October before things might return to normal. We do not currently have 5000 beds or the 1300 ventilators, but there is a plan to reach that number by June. Noem said we need to be prepared for 2 peaks.
(April 3rd 14:15) According to Google the Census Bureau says the population of Brookings is 23,938 and the counties population at 34,255. The city could see 7200 – 16,700 infections and the county total could reach 23,978.
(April 4th) A Sioux Falls elder care facility says that one resident has died. Avera says it believes an asymptomatic staff member unknowingly brought the infection into the facility. Representative Bob Glanzer passed Friday night too. These cases will raise the SD death toll to 4.
(April 4th 11:30) Brookings has a new active case! Official Deaths hold at 2. Brookings County is now listed in the community spread category. Community spread simply means an infection that is not linked to travel.
(April 5th) Minnehaha 104, Lincoln 23, Codington 10, Beadle 21, Yankton 14, Deuel & Lake have 1, Brookings 1 active ** 190 cases ages 0-59 y with 50 cases 60 and older.
(April 6th) **A tiger at the Bronx Zoo has been diagnosed with coronovirus!! SD death toll is officially at 4 and Brookings County now has 4 total with 2 active cases. Noem will hold a press conference at 12:30 today. Students will not return to school. E learning only.
(April 7th) Brookings now has 6 total cases with 3 recovered. 3 active cases now. I would not be surprised if our active cases see double digits by the weekend or certainly into next week. Deuel and Lake remain at 1 each.
(April 8th) Brooking has only 1 active case today with 5 of six recovered! Good news, but don’t start shaking hands just yet.
(April 9th) No new cases in Brookings. BMLS and Edgebrook announced they will now reopen.
(April 10th) Just like we talked about on the air this morning. A delay in testing. Brookings has zero active cases with 7 total.
(April 12th) 2 NEW active cases.
(April 13th) 1 new active case brings the total to 3 active.
(April 14th) Steady at 3 active cases.
(April 15th) Sioux Falls, Watertown & Huron among a number of cities to get the Abbott ID machines. 9 went to 8 facilities. BROOKINGS HEALTH SYSTEM DID NOT MAKE THE LIST!
(April 16th) 1 new death.
(April 20th) The curve is flattening. Today the number of recovered cases out numbered the new positive cases dropping the number of active cases from 982 to 969!
(April 21st) Recovered out numbered new positive cases again today. 923 Active with 1 new death. 8 Total
(April 22nd) Recovered out numbered new positive cases again today. 911 Active with 1 new death. 9 Total
(April 25th) Brookings has 2 new Active cases. I would guess people are getting a little more active and visited SF unless there is a carrier in the county. Our flattened curve just had a spike. More active that recovered.
(April 27th) 1 more active. 3 total.
Brookings Health System 605-696-9000
Brookings Avera Medical Group 605-697-9500
SDSU Health Clinic 605-688-4157
