Though vaccine distribution is well underway across the United States, the novel coronavirus continues to spread through the population. To date, there have been 32,210,800 reported cases of the virus nationwide — and that number is growing every day.
In the Rapid City metropolitan area, located in South Dakota, a total of 17,253 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 11,875 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — above the national rate of 9,845 cases per 100,000 people.
The higher than average per capita COVID-19 infection rate across Rapid City is being driven by a high concentration of the virus in one area in particular.
The broader Rapid City metro area comprises three counties or county equivalents, which can include independent cities — and of them, Pennington County has the most COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 13,659 infections in Pennington County, or 12,497 for every 100,000 people.
Not only does Pennington County have the most COVID-19 infections per capita in the Rapid City area, it also has more deaths attributable to the virus per capita than the metro area as a whole. There have been a total of 175 coronavirus deaths for every 100,000 people in Pennington County, compared to 160 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Rapid City metro area.
All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of May 9, 2021.
| Rank | Geography | COVID cases per 100,000 people | Total cases | Deaths per 100,000 people | Total deaths |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pennington County | 12,497 | 13,659 | 175 | 191 |
| 2 | Meade County | 10,042 | 2,754 | 109 | 30 |
| 3 | Custer County | 9,798 | 840 | 140 | 12 |
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