Greenville County surpasses 1,000 coronavirus cases, state health officials say
Greenville County became the second county in South Carolina to reach a grim milestone Friday, surpassing 1,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus, according to data from the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.
The Upstate region, the most populous county in the state with more than 500,000 residents, reached a total of 1,021 COVID-19 patients after DHEC announced Friday they identified 31 additional cases in the area. In the past week, the county has added 165 new cases.
The other county to reach the milestone is Richland County, which leads the state in total cases and surpassed 1,000-case mark in early May. It has also had a total of 46 virus-related deaths since the coronavirus spread to South Carolina in March.
“Our population is among the highest in the state, and our numbers have always been high,” said state Rep. Leola Robinson-Simpson, D-Greenville. “And I’ve always been concerned, because the number of African-Americans has always exceeded the numbers in the population, especially in my ZIP code ... So, we’re very concerned, and we’ve just got to be vigilant in everything that we do.”
Because of its comparatively large population, Greenville’s case rate per capita — about 190 for every 100,000 residents — is lower than most hard hit counties, like Clarendon and Lee. But it still ranks 15th among the state’s 46 counties for rate of infection.
“The 1,000 cases, which in a county of over 500,000 is not a great deal, but we’re quite sure that there’s many cases than that,” said state Rep. Garry Smith, R-Greenville.“But I think that you got to put it in perspective, also, because you when you look at the latest data from DHEC, we’re looking at projecting that we have an 82% recovery rate. When you look at the national studies and so forth, there’s some areas that are even higher than that.”
Smith said the region will have a better handle on the situation once testing is ramped up around the state.
DHEC estimates that thousands of people in the county and across the state have been infected with the virus but have yet to be tested. As of Friday, the agency estimated the real total of cases in the county to be more than 7,100.
With more tests being conducted under Gov. Henry McMaster’s plan to test 2% of the state’s residents per month in May and June, most positive cases are expected across the board.
DHEC reports the daily positivity rate — the percentage of positive tests among all tests conducted — for the state, but it does not release public numbers by county. In Greenville, however, the county’s emergency management office has been tracking that rate, albeit on a more informal level, said Butch Kirven, chairman of the county council.
“We saw a leveling off about a week and a half or two weeks ago, and we feel like we were in a downward trajectory,” he said, adding that the last few days have been a reversal of that trend.So we want to give it some more time to actually see where we are on the chart, which is hard to predict right now.”
How the county and the state’s numbers will look over the coming weeks will be closely watched as McMaster begins to lift restrictions and the economy begins to reopen. Some fear of a second wave, while others say the state’s epidemic curve will descend.
“I think people are learning that they have to take precautions, and they’re just not going where they don’t feel comfortable going,” Kirven said. “I know some of the restaurants are starting to open back up just this week. I don’t think they’ve had too big of crowds come in. I think people are pretty cautious about starting those kind of things back. A lot of churches are going to be opening up this weekend, we’ll see how that goes. We hope for the best.”
Targeting and protecting at-risk populations, such as the elderly and those with underlying health conditions should be key, said Smith, the state representative, citing the high recovery rate across the state as a reason for reopening. But Robinson-Simpson said even more public education on voluntary measures, such as hand-washing, mask-wearing and social distancing, is very much needed.
“All of Greenville, all you have to do is get in your car and drive around, and you’ll see people not wearing masks, you’ll see people not observing the distancing,” Robinson-Simpson said. “And I think it won’t hit home until something tragic occurs.”
