SD sees low infection rates for flu, COVID, and RSV, says Monument Health

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - In some communities, COVID, flu, and RSV are becoming prominent issues as the “respiratory” season gets closer.

Here in the Rushmore state, while the spread is not as fast, doctors are seeing numbers indicating a slow trend upwards of what some call a “tripledemic”. According to the South Dakota Department of Health, as of this week, there has been 719 new COVID cases along with 17 confirmed flu cases. The CDC also reports that in South Dakota out of 86 RSV PCR tests, only 12% came back positive.

“We’re seeing those three viruses spike right now across the country. Luckily, we haven’t seen that here, but we have seen an indication that numbers are ticking up for both Iifluenza and RSV and COVID,” said Monument Health’s director of infection prevention control, Ty White.

Monument Health in Rapid City is encouraging community members to take early precautions in order to keep a low infection rate in the state.

“In addition to getting vaccinated, we can also do other things to help prevent illness in general so all respiratory viruses. One is washing our hands, coughing into our shoulder, or using a tissue, trying to avoid other people that are sick, or if you’re sick please stay home,” said White

According to the CDC, in the first week of this month, nearly 5,000 tests came back positive for RSV nationwide, along with more than 4,000 clinical lab cases of the flu.

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