Active cases of COVID-19 are above 10,000 in South Dakota. The last time cases reached that level was the end of 2020.
The state Health Department says 261 people are hospitalized with the disease. About 30 percent of adult intensive-care beds are occupied by COVID patients.
Four more deaths raise the state’s pandemic total to 2,498.
The pace of vaccinations has not risen in response to surging infections. About 56 percent of South Dakotans 5 and old are fully vaccinated. That percentage has changed little in recent weeks.
Most serious cases of COVID-19 occur in unvaccinated people. Sanford Health is one of the state’s major health systems. It reports more than 90 percent of its hospitalized COVID patients are NOT vaccinated.