Moody County coronavirus numbers have increased enough that the county has substantial community spread, according to the South Dakota Department of Health.
Latest numbers show there are 63 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the county, as of Monday noon. That is an increase from 47 in the past 10 days. Of the 63 cases, 50 are considered no longer contagious, which doesn’t mean the people no longer have symptoms. An additional 787 people have tested negative.
So far, since state government has started keeping numbers, four people in the county have been hospitalized and no one has died. The county’s move into the “substantial community spread” category is different than it was previously classified because there are more than 50 cases confirmed.
Both school districts have had cases of COVID-19 in their buildings, but it has not caused school to be called off. Colman-Egan did suspend sports contests for a while, rescheduling one game for this Friday..
Flandreau has had four positive cases in its school, including a middle school student, a high school student, a high school staff member and an elementary staff member, said Superintendent Rick Weber. Both students, who were in isolation, have recovered, while the staff members remain in isolation.
The school is making plans for its homecoming, which will be celebrated Sept. 21-25 in a modified format compared to other years. The theme for Homecoming 2020 is “One for the Books,” playing off of the unusual times during a global pandemic and state of emergency.
South Dakota has had one of the highest number of cases per capita in the nation. As of Monday, the state had 163 new cases for the day, bringing the total number of cases to 16,638. So far, 184 people have died, and 110 are now hospitalized. But 14,118 people have recovered, leaving 2,499 active cases.
