SC coronavirus cases top 4,600 Tuesday, death count grows by 11
An additional 172 South Carolinians have contacted the coronavirus, bringing the statewide number to 4,608, state health officials said Tuesday.
Eleven additional death were also announced by the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, raising the death count to 135.
Specifically:
- All residents whose deaths were announced Tuesday were elderly.
- Three were from Beaufort County, two were from Berkeley County and two were from Charleston County.
- The others were from Clarendon, Colleton, Greenville and Spartanburg counties.
Locally, Richland County posted the largest increase in cases with 30. In Lexington County, officials identified 12 new cases.
The majority of S.C. residents who have contacted the disease have recovered — about 72%, DHEC estimated Tuesday. More than 32,9000 coronavirus cases are thought to exist throughout the state, they added.
South Carolina should expect to see about 750 new cases per week until early May, DHEC officials said Monday. Though some models have predicted that the Palmetto State has passed its peak of coronavirus cases, state epidemiologist Linda Bell said S.C. has seen no consistent drop off in cases.
Last week, DHEC officials projected a peak around May 2, and predicted that 572 residents will have died after contracting the virus by Aug. 4.
South Carolina saw its first coronavirus cases in Kershaw and Charleston counties on March 6. Health officials have tested and identified more cases nearly every day since, with more than 1,000 cases counted by the end of that month.
But case counts have fluctuated due to shortages in a chemical needed to complete COVID-19 tests.
As of Tuesday, a total of 42,441 tests have been completed in South Carolina. Of those, 12,392 were done at DHEC’s lab.
The number of tests may soon be ramping up. DHEC officials distributed 15 rapid testing machines to struggling areas across the state last week, and hospital systems are developing their own tests.
Hospitals across the state are at 57.2% capacity as of Tuesday, DHEC officials said. But state leaders have made plans to increase hospital capacity across the state by about 3,000 beds by early May.
S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster has also taken steps to slow the spread, including issuing a mandatory “home or work” order, closing schools through the end of April, closing dining rooms in restaurants, closing nonessential businesses and allowing police to break up groups of three or more. McMaster also issued an executive order to allow furloughed workers to qualify for unemployment benefits.
But Monday, the governor took the first steps toward lightening restrictions, including reopening beaches and several retail businesses. Last week, McMaster also reopened public waterway access points, though he cautioned that boaters should continue to practice social distancing.
McMaster has said he intends to restart the state’s economy by the end of June.
New coronavirus cases
Abbeville (1)
Aiken (1)
Anderson (2)
Beaufort (8)
Berkeley (4)
Charleston (12)
Chesterfield (1)
Clarendon (6)
Darlington (8)
Dillon (1)
Dorchester (2)
Edgefield (5)
Fairfield (1)
Florence (15)
Greenville (17)
Greenwood (3)
Horry (3)
Kershaw (2)
Lexington (12)
Marion (4)
Newberry (2)
Oconee (2)
Orangeburg (5)
Pickens (3)
Richland (30)
Spartanburg (5)
Sumter (14)
York (3)
This story was originally published April 21, 2020 at 4:34 PM.
