Coronavirus case count in SC climbs to 9,895, deaths hit 425
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in South Carolina continues to approach 10,000 as state health officials announced 248 new cases on Saturday.
The new announced cases puts the state’s overall total at 9,895.
Also on Saturday officials announced six new deaths related to COVID-19, bringing the state’s death toll to 425.
Five of the deaths occurred in elderly individuals, one each from Chesterfield, Florence, Marion, Richland and York counties.
A middle-aged individual also died in Clarendon County.
Greenville County, which ranks second in the state in total cases, added 30 more new cases Saturday.
Beaufort County added 22 cases, its biggest single-day increase since April 1.
Lee County, which has the state’s highest infection rate per 100,000 residents, added four new cases; in all roughly 1 out of every 100 people in Lee County has tested positive for the virus.
In the Midlands, Richland and Lexington counties added 14 new cases each — and Richland continues to lead the state in total cases.
DHEC continues to estimate that roughly 86% of coronavirus cases across the state have gone untested or unidentified, meaning officials believe there are actually around 70,679 total cases
The number of coronavirus cases identified per week has varied between 1,012 and 1,220 over the past month. DHEC had projected 1,050 more cases for this past week — 1,079 were identified.
By the end of the month, DHEC projects there will be 10,890 confirmed cases.
Beyond that some public health experts have warned that South Carolina could face a “second wave” of infections as the economy and society begin to reopen.
Thus far restrictions have been lifted on some retailers, beaches, boating, short-term rentals, salons, gyms, pools and restaurants.
Gov. Henry McMaster also lifted restrictions on some entertainment and recreational businesses Wednesday, including youth and adult sports, zoos, museums and amusement parks (which can resume May 30).
Experts have said that In order to combat any spread of the virus during this return to normalcy, DHEC needs to increase testing and contact tracing.
DHEC official’s goal is to test about 2% of the state’s population in May and again in June. State health officials have said the agency is on track to meet that goal in May. As of Saturday, labs across the state have completed 163,818 tests.
With the increase in testing, officials have said they expect the total case count to rise. Another metric they are monitoring to track the spread of the virus is positivity rate — the percentage of positive tests among all tests conducted.
The daily positivity rate reached a low point last week, dipping to 2.6%. Over the past four weeks, the overall trend in positivity rate is significantly down, according to DHEC data. In the past 14 days, however, the rate has flattened around 4%.
In order to contain outbreaks, health officials have also bulked up their contact tracing staff from 20 to 380, and they have contracted with private companies to hire 1,400 more.
Hospitals across South Carolina have also been hit by the coronavirus: 66.36% of hospital beds in the state are currently occupied — and 430 of 6,834 beds in use are being used by patients who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 or are suspected to have it.
This story was originally published May 23, 2020 at 3:53 PM.
