South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) this week attributed the state’s surge in COVID-19 cases to increased testing, saying, “That’s expected.”
“We have triple the amount of testing that we are doing in the state of South Dakota, which is why we’re seeing elevated positive cases,” Noem said, according to The Associated Press. “That’s normal, that’s natural, that’s expected.”
Data from the South Dakota Department of Health shows there are no open general-care hospital beds in the southeastern portion of the state, which includes the two largest hospitals, the AP reported.
Hospitals in Sioux Falls have about 41 percent of their intensive care units (ICU) available.
Noem did not explain how an increase in hospitalizations would correlate to an increase in testing, the AP reported.
A spokesperson for Noem told The Hill the state has “dramatically increased” testing capacity in recent months.
“For October, we are on pace to test around 300% of our monthly testing goal, which is what Governor Noem was referring to,” the spokesperson said.
The New York Times reported Wednesday North Dakota and South Dakota have the most massive outbreaks per capita in the country.
The percentage of tests coming back positive in South Dakota has averaged to nearly 24 percent in the last seven days, according to Johns Hopkins University, an indication that there is a growing community spread.
The World Health Organization (WHO) indicates that a test positivity rate of 5 percent or lower is a sign COVID-19 is well-controlled in an area.
……..
- Discussion
-
<p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>South Dakota governor blames surge in COVID-19 cases on increased testing: "That's expected" https://t.co/lIfH5GTKpz pic.twitter.com/n3vijVBajh</p>— The Hill (@thehill) October 14, 2020
<script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.