SC coronavirus case count hits 7,000, DHEC officials announce Thursday
Coronavirus cases in South Carolina surpassed 7,000 Thursday after state Department of Health and Environmental Control officials announced 214 additional people have tested positive for the virus.
Across the state, 7,142 people have now contracted the virus.
Greenville County saw the largest increase in cases with 36.
Locally, Richland County officials recorded 29 new cases, and officials in neighboring Lexington County saw 18.
DHEC officials also announced that 11 additional people have died after contracting COVID-19, bringing the statewide death toll to 316.
Eleven of those patients were elderly, and were from Darlington (1); Kershaw (2); Lexington (1); Richland (2) and Williamsburg (1) counties. The other four were middle-aged and from Allendale (1); Fairfield (1); Richland (1) and Williamsburg (1) counties.
Though the state may have reached a new milestone, DHEC officials believe thousands more South Carolinians have contracted the coronavirus and have not been tested. As of Thursday, officials projected more than 51,000 total cases in the state.
Of the patients who have gotten tested, about 79% of them have recovered, DHEC said.
About 1,000 new coronavirus cases are expected by next week, according to agency projections. By May 23, a total of 9,652 cases are anticipated.
South Carolina’s coronavirus curve is leveling off, health officials say, but they stress that cases will likely increase as testing is expanded. Currently, DHEC is planning to nearly double the amount of testing by the end of May, with a goal of testing 2% of the state’s population each month. So far, about 1.3% of South Carolinians have been tested.
As of Thursday, labs across the state have finished 73,442 tests. DHEC’s own lab has done 18,985.
S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster has expressed confidence about South Carolina’s ability to reopen the state.
The Columbia Republican has taken several steps in that direction, including allowing some businesses to reopen and lifting his mandatory work-or-home order. He also announced new guidelines for restaurants — allowing them to serve customers in outdoor seating — and lifted restrictions on short-term rentals and a mandatory self-quarantine for tourists.
State health officials are also ramping up contact tracing abilities. Currently, DHEC has about 230 contact tracers, are hope to hire about 1,000.
Hospitals across the state are also seeing an influx in patients. As of Thursday, hospitals were at 66.61% capacity, with confirmed or likely coronavirus patients taking up 484 beds.
DHEC officials and McMaster have recommended residents continue to practice social distancing as businesses reopen, with a target date of June 16 for relaxing those recommendations.
New Coronavirus cases
- Abbeville (1)
- Aiken (1)
- Allendale (1)
- Anderson (9)
- Barnwell (1)
- Berkeley (1)
- Charleston (4)
- Chester (1)
- Chesterfield (4)
- Cherokee (2)
- Clarendon (6)
- Darlington (5)
- Dillon (3)
- Dorchester (1)
- Edgefield (1)
- Fairfield (2)
- Florence (12)
- Georgetown (2)
- Greenville (36)
- Horry (4)
- Kershaw (5)
- Lancaster (3)
- Laurens (2)
- Lee (9)
- Lexington (18)
- Marion (2)
- Marlboro (2)
- Oconee (1)
- Pickens (1)
- Richland (29)
- Saluda (9)
- Spartanburg (7)
- Sumter (6)
- Union (1)
- Williamsburg (19)
- York (3)
This story was originally published May 7, 2020 at 4:20 PM.
