21 new cases of coronavirus found in SC. Abbeville, Saluda counties see first cases
South Carolina health officials announced that 21 more people tested positive for the coronavirus, bringing the total number of cases in the Palmetto State to 81.
New cases were in the following counties: Abbeville had one, Beaufort had one, Charleston had one, Dorchester had one, Greenville had four, Horry had one, Kershaw had four, Lancaster had one, Lexington had one, Richland had four and Saluda had one.
In all, 17 counties across the state have seen positive cases of COVID-19. Kershaw County continued to lead the state with the most cases: 29.
DHEC has performed 906 tests, State Epidemiologist Dr. Linda Bell said, adding that 833 of those cases have been negative.
“According to the CDC, this is a historic, unprecedented outbreak, the likes of which have not been seen since the influenza pandemic of 1918,” Bell said.
The 1918 flu pandemic killed about 675,000 Americans and millions worldwide.
“We expect a dramatic increase in case counts from one day to the next, and the public should be prepared for that,” Bell said.
State health officials have not provided specific information about new cases — such as the age group of the patient, how they may have contracted COVID-19 and whether they are quarantined — since Monday. On Wednesday, officials with the Department of Health and Environmental Control did not hold a phone call with reporters to take questions, something that was regularly done when new cases were announced before.
Thursday, Bell said DHEC had the responsibility to protect patients’ private health information.
“We will always provide the information that helps South Carolinians remain informed about the information that they need to act on,” Bell said. “Reporting on things like gender do not have any implications for public health.”
Thursday, spokespeople for Lexington Medical Center and Prisma Health declined to offer new information about any of the coronavirus cases in Richland County or the additional cases with ties to the Lexington Medical Center nursing home.
Tammie Epps, the spokeswoman for Prisma Health, one of the state’s largest health systems, directed reporters to submit their questions to DHEC.
The lack of information coming from DHEC about the coronavirus outbreak is frustrating state legislators and the people they serve, but the agency says it is providing what the public needs to know.
Officials with the Department of Health and Environmental Control indicated that the rises in coronavirus cases is making it difficult to release some information.
“As cases of COVID-19 expectedly increase, DHEC is prioritizing its efforts in order to best protect public health and limit spread of the virus,’’ DHEC spokeswoman Laura Renwick said in an email. “When a positive case is known, we work to identify close contacts of that individual and we announce these positive cases publicly by the individual’s county of residence. DHEC will always provide the information that helps South Carolinians stay informed about COVID-19.’’
Lawmakers have become increasingly worried by the agency’s failure to release many details about the infection in their communities, saying the public needs more information so people can better prepare for the threat. The agency, for instance, has refused to identify which city the cases are coming from after initially identifying some of the cases as being from Camden.
State Sen. Dick Harpootlian, a Columbia Democrat, said DHEC needs to provide more information about the coronavirus cases to warn others about the potential threats in their communities.
Harpootlian said he discussed his concerns with a DHEC official Thursday but had no luck persuading the agency to release more information about the cases that have been identified in Richland County. DHEC has not said if the cases are in Columbia or in rural areas.
“I specifically pressed her on who the people were or where they lived so that other folks might know if they had come into contact,’’ he said, noting that she said “specifically under the law, ‘we are prohibited to tell you any of that.’ That is the position they are taking.’’
Harpootlian said he’s not advocating identifying anyone, but if, for instance, a teacher had developed the coronavirus, the agency should be more specific so that parents would know if their children had been exposed.
In some cases involving other illnesses, DHEC has released more information. In 2019, the agency told the public that people who ate at a Camden restaurant from June 14-28, 2019, might have been exposed to hepatitis after an employee tested positive for the disease, according to a report by WOLO-TV.
This week, a Rush’s restaurant in Camden said publicly that one of its workers had tested positive for coronavirus and people who ate there from March 3-14 might have been exposed. But DHEC did not make such a statement. The agency said people can’t get coronavirus from food, even though they could get it from other people in the restaurant who have it, The State reported this week.
State Rep. Mandy Powers Norrell, D-Lancaster, said she’s also frustrated. Her county has had multiple coronavirus cases that are linked to the outbreak in Camden, which is the epicenter of coronavirus cases in South Carolina.
South Carolina has had one coronavirus-related death thus far, an older man housed at the Lexington Medical Center Extended Care Nursing Facility. Four people associated with the facility — which has more than 350 residents and 480 staff members — have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to Lexington Medical Center spokeswoman Jennifer Wilson.
Wilson would not give details about the patients’ ages, their health statuses or whether they were staff members or residents.
Bell also declined to comment on the additional cases identified in Lexington County.
Government officials at the state and federal level are taking steps to help curb the spread of COVID-19.
But they said supplies are increasingly strained as the coronavirus spreads. Leaders in Kershaw County have been particularly worried.
During a news conference Thursday afternoon, S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster asked all South Carolina hospitals and overnight medical facilities to immediately restrict visitation to patients with the exception of end of life situations.
Those visitors, McMaster said, are “asking for masks, gloves, gowns and other things, and what that does is it takes them away from people that need them to treat this virus.”
Lawmakers passed and the governor signed into law Thursday a $45 million state aid package to help DHEC with its COVID-19 response.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate passed a coronavirus aid package aimed at providing relief to workers negatively affected by the virus, which President Donald Trump signed that night. The package will provide free COVID-19 testing, require employers with fewer than 500 employees to give paid sick leave, give $1 billion to states to help pay for processing unemployment claims and dole out $1 billion for food assistance programs.
Previously, Congress has approved an emergency spending package that sent $8.9 million to South Carolina.
This story was originally published March 19, 2020 at 5:14 PM.
