Coronavirus deaths increase by two in South Dakota, cases increase by 87

Two more people have died of the coronavirus in South Dakota, and the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the state increased by 87 on Thursday.

South Dakota has a total of 64 COVID-19 deaths, according to the South Dakota Department of Health.

One of the new deaths was a Minnehaha County resident and one was a Pennington County resident. One person was in the 60-69 age range and one was in the 80+ age range. One was a man and one was a woman, according to state epidemiologist Josh Clayton.

South Dakota has a total of 5,287 COVID-19 cases as of Thursday, according to the state health department. That doesn't include people who show symptoms or are asymptomatic but are not tested. Thursday's 3,876 negative tests was the highest so far and the positive rate for coronavirus tests on Thursday was 2.2%.

The state has 1,020 active COVID-19 cases, according to the state health department. Recoveries statewide increased to 4,136. The state health department says 86 people are currently hospitalized.

More:Map: Where is coronavirus in South Dakota? View data on ages, counties and gender.

Clayton said more than 10 percent of people who test positive have been asymptomatic and he's anticipating for the number of asymptomatic people who test positive to increase as the state continues to mass test.

Cases in Minnehaha County increased by eight cases and Lincoln County's cases increased by three on Thursday, according to the state health department. Beadle County's cases increased by 33 and Pennington County's cases increased by 18. Brown County had four new cases. 

The case increase in Beadle County is due to cases at Jack Link's and testing of close contacts of its employees, in addition to community spread, Clayton said.

Dewey County has been downgraded to having no community spread because the case that was identified there turned out to be a resident of a different county, according to state epidemiologist Josh Clayton. Hanson County has been elevated from no community spread to minimal/moderate community spread. Oglala Lakota County has been elevated from minimal/moderate spread to having substantial community spread.

At DemKota Ranch Beef in Aberdeen, 137 of the 163 cases have recovered. Forty-seven of the 99 cases at LSI Jack Link's in Alpena have recovered. Of the 853 Smithfield employee cases, 843 of those have recovered, according to Clayton. 

Clayton noted that they're seeing cases appear in counties that haven't previously had cases while cases in Minnehaha and Lincoln counties are decreasing. 

The state's projection originally assumed cases would increase in counties statewide at the same time, with a peak in mid-June. But Clayton said they've found there's more of "an ebb-and-flow" to cases and case increases are occurring in counties at different times. 

Clayton said it's too early to say whether the state will experience a resurgent peak later this year or continue to see clusters of cases throughout the state. Historically, pandemics have had multiple waves and if conditions are right, the state could see another surge of cases, Clayton said.