SC health officials announce one new death Sunday as state’s confirmed cases surpass 7,600
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control announced 113 new cases of the coronavirus on Sunday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 7,653 in the state.
Along with announcing the new cases, state health officials reported an additional individual has died after testing positive for COVID-19 — an elderly person from Marion County.
The death toll in South Carolina has now reached 331.
Of the 113 new cases, 15 of them are from Richland County, which continues to lead the state in positive coronavirus tests with 1,100.
There were four positive tests announced Sunday in Lexington County, bringing the total number of confirmed cases there to 478. There were no new cases reported for Kershaw County.
As of Saturday, DHEC’s Public Health Laboratory has conducted 20,813 tests for COVID-19. Of these tests, 2,704 were positive and 18,109 were negative. A total of 84,457 total tests by both DHEC’s Public Health Laboratory and private labs have been conducted in the state with 76,804 tests coming back negative.
According to projections from DHEC, officials expect to see 1,000 cases this week, from May 10-16.
Health officials say that the state’s epidemic curve, a measure of daily new cases, is leveling off — but they have stressed that the raw total of cases will likely increase as testing is expanded. DHEC is planning to nearly double the amount of testing by the end of May with a goal of testing 2% of South Carolina’s population each month. So far, about 1.3% of the state’s residents have been tested.
DHEC announced Sunday that mobile testing clinics will be held in Charleston County this week. In addition, testing is currently scheduled this week for Clarendon, Florence, Lee and Saluda counties. Mobile testing clinics were previously held in Darlington, Richland and Greenville counties.
More mobile testing sites have currently been scheduled through May 22 and additional sites will continue to be added.
Beginning Monday, DHEC will test all residents and staff at nursing homes, where more than 100 people have died and more than 1,000 have tested positive.
At the same time, Gov. Henry McMaster has said he is confident that the state is ready to reopen and has taken increasing steps to restart the economy. On Monday, restaurants can open for limited dine-in service so long as they operate at 50% occupancy and tables are positioned six to eight feet apart.
McMaster is also expected to announce Monday when salons, gyms and other “close physical contact” businesses in South Carolina will be able to reopen.
Still, 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. McMaster has also said law enforcement officials will still be able to intervene if they see groups of three or more people gathering in public.
As of Sunday afternoon, 4,079,388 people worldwide have been diagnosed with coronavirus and 283,313 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States leads the world with 1,321,223 people who have been diagnosed with the novel virus. In the U.S., 79,058 deaths have been reported, including 26,535 in New York City.
This story was originally published May 10, 2020 at 4:40 PM.
