South Dakota hits NEW COVID milestone:

~1 out of every 500 residents dead

South Dakota COVID deaths have more than tripled since this tweet on Nov. 10: https://twitter.com/RepAndyBiggsAZ/status/1326388918690992128?s=20

South Dakota is the 6th state to reach the 1 out of 500 dead level.

NY, NJ, MA, RI, MS are #1-5.

No country South Dakota's size or larger has a higher death rate per capita.

There is GOOD NEWS in South Dakota: It's one of the best states so far in getting vaccines into arms. @aslavitt46 praised them for that. And cases, hospitalizations, deaths have been dropping quite a bit.

But only after a catastrophic toll.

Correction: NJ is #1; I typed NY first by mistake. It could soon hit the *1 in 400* dead level.

Of course, deaths aren't the only impact:

~1 in 141 South Dakota residents have been hospitalized over the course of the pandemic.

Sources: Worldometers; SD's COVID dashboard.

Bloomberg's vaccine tracker here: https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/covid-vaccine-tracker-global-distribution/

Vermont has a similar sized population to South Dakota, higher population density and about *1/7th the deaths per capita.*

For perspective, heart disease is the #1 killer.

And it kills *less than* 1 in 500 Americans a year.

CDC data from 2020 alone — not counting 2021 deaths, given reporting lags — shows 21% excess deaths from all causes in South Dakota, which tracks pretty well, but not entirely, with the COVID numbers.

Nearly *half* of South Dakota's deaths came from long term care facilities.