SC officials announce 266 new coronavirus cases, 4 more deaths
An additional 266 cases of the novel coronavirus have been identified in South Carolina, officials announced Saturday, bringing the state’s total to 11,394.
Four additional residents with COVID-19 also died, putting the state’s death toll at 487, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control said.
Of the four deaths, two occurred in elderly individuals from Williamsburg County, one in an elderly individual from Clarendon County and one in a middle-aged person from Florence County.
A day after Greenville County reported a surge in cases to match Richland County for the most total in the state, Richland added 25 new cases while Greenville had nine.
Also in the Midlands, Lexington County reported the biggest increase of the day with 29 new cases.
State health officials believe that as many as 86% of coronavirus cases in South Carolina have gone unidentified. As of Friday DHEC estimated that 79,500 Palmetto State residents have had COVID-19 but were not tested.
Saturday’s numbers come after Friday’s 331 new cases marked the largest single-day increase in South Carolina since the pandemic began. State health officials have maintained that they expect to see an increase in the total number of cases — they project South Carolina will see an increase in positive tests each week until at least the second week of June.
By then they expect to see 1,400 cases a week.
A key reason for that, officials say, is DHEC’s expanded testing strategy, which includes plans to test about 2% of South Carolina’s population — roughly 110,000 people — in May and again in June. The goal for May was met several days ago.
In total, labs across the state have completed 199,735 tests.
Among all tests conducted, the percentage coming back positive has trended down over the last 28 days but started to rise again in the last 14, potentially indicating increased disease activity. On Saturday the rate of positive tests was 5.4%, down from Wednesday’s three-week high of 7.7%.
Some public health experts have expressed concern that as South Carolina’s economy begins to reopen and residents return to normal activities and increase their movement, there might be an increase in cases that could lead to later COVID-19 outbreaks.
Since April 20, Gov. Henry McMaster has been incrementally reopening businesses and loosening restrictions, though both he and DHEC officials have continued to recommend residents practice social distancing.
DHEC has taken other steps recommended by the CDC for a safe reopening, including increasing their contact tracing staff from 20 to 380. They’ve also contracted with private companies to hire 1,400 more tracers to curb the spread.
This story was originally published May 30, 2020 at 2:48 PM.
