Models help state plan for virus peak

PIERRE, S.D. (WNAX) – Governor Kristi Noem says 30 to 70 percent of the people in South Dakota could be infected with the coronavirus. She also says their models show the state could need up to 5,000 hospital beds when the infection peaks in mid-June. The state currently has about 2,600.

Sanford Health Chief Medical Officer Dr. Allison Suttle says the models help them plan.

Suttle agrees the worst is still ahead.

Suttle says she has seen remarkable reactions.

Federal health officials are also warning that the next few weeks could be the hardest the country has yet seen.