ABERDEEN, S.D. (By Elisa Sand esand@aberdeennews.com) – State Epidemiologist Josh Clayton said 17 more COVID-19 cases were confirmed in Brown County Thursday, which pushes the local total to 93 with 34 recoveries.

Of the total, 58 are employees at DemKota Ranch Beef, according to an email from the South Dakota Department of Health. That’s an increase of 14 compared to Wednesday.

Details are not available from the health department as to whether any of the new cases are close contacts with DemKota employees.

In Brown County, three people have ever been hospitalized. None have died, and there have been 703 negative tests, according to the state.

Two new deaths and 126 new COVID-19 cases statewide were confirmed by the Department of Health Thursday.

That moves the statewide total to 31 deaths. The new deaths were in Minnehaha County. Both were women who were at least 80.

Minnehaha added 101 positive tests. Asked how many were connected to mass testing happening in Minnehaha and Lincoln counties, Clayton said the state is not differentiating between the results from mass testing and those that are part of the normal test collection process. There has been a Smithfield Foods pop-up site administering testing in Sioux Falls as the pork processing plant works to reopen.

Of the 853 cases connected to Smithfield employees, Clayton said, 803 have recovered.

The state has now has a total of 2,905 confirmed cases of the virus, 846 of them active. There have been 236 people hospitalized by the disease, with 70 people currently in the hospital. A total of 2,028 people have recovered in the state. There have been 17,209 negative tests.

Numbers do not include those who have had the virus but have not been tested.

New cases were also reported Thursday in Hughes, Lincoln , Moody and Union counties with four in Moody and two in Union.

The Argus Leader contributed to this report.

(visit www.aberdeennews.com)