SC coronavirus cases grow by 142. Three additional deaths announced Monday
The coronavirus has spread to 142 more people in South Carolina, bringing the statewide total to 5,613, state health officials announced Monday.
Greenville County saw the largest increase in cases with 44 because a private lab turned in one month’s worth of positive tests at one time.
Locally, both Richland and Lexington counties posted five new cases each.
S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control officials also said that three additional patients who contracted COVID-19 have died, bringing the statewide total to 177.
The three patients who died most recently were all elderly and from Clarendon, Florence and Greenville counties.
The actual number of people with the coronavirus is likely much highers than what DHEC has announced. Monday, the agency projected that there were likely more than 40,000 cases of the virus across the state.
Last week, DHEC projected that about 72% of those diagnosed with COVID-19 have recovered.
According to DHEC projections, South Carolina will see about 750 new COVID-19 cases per week until early May. Though some models show that South Carolina has passed its peak number of cases, state officials say there is only evidence of a flattening of the curve, not a consistent drop off.
The first coronavirus cases in the Palmetto State appeared in Kershaw and Charleston counties on March 6. The state has seen new cases nearly every day since.
By the end of March, the state reached more than 1,000 tested and identified cases. Case counts have fluctuated each day because of shortages in chemicals needed to perform coronavirus tests.
Labs across the state have completed 52,145 tests. In DHEC’s lab, state health officials have completed 14,160 tests.
While the virus continues to spread across the state, S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster has ordered that some retail businesses be allowed to open, as well as public beaches. South Carolina has not met several criteria set by the White House for reopening the economy, though.
Schools will remain closed for the rest of the academic year, McMaster announced last week.
This story was originally published April 27, 2020 at 4:35 PM.
