South Carolina ends record breaking week with 447 new coronavirus cases
The coronavirus has continued its speedy spread across South Carolina, with state officials announcing 447 new infections on Friday, setting a new record for the largest single-day increase in cases, state Department of Health and Environmental Control officials said in a statement.
In all, 13,453 people have tested positive for the virus across the state. Also announced Friday were an additional 13 deaths, bringing the death toll to 538.
The latest case and death statistics come near the end of a record week. Over the last week, state health officials have seen record high case numbers each day, including three days with more than 300 cases and two days with more than 400, topping the previous records set in April and May by dozens of cases.
Greenville County continued its streak of seeing the most new cases per day. On Friday, DHEC reported that the Upstate county saw 77 new cases.
In the Midlands, Richland County saw 56 new cases, and Lexington County saw 43. Richland County also saw the death of a resident, who was elderly, according to DHEC.
Spartanburg County led the state in single-day deaths, with six reported Friday.
The other patients who died were from Clarendon, Greenville, Horry, Orangeburg, Charleston and Cherokee counties.
But state health officials say those numbers only account for about 14% of coronavirus cases across the state. As of Friday, DHEC officials estimated that 96,100 people have likely had it since March.
The Palmetto State has seen an increase in COVID-19 activity over the past few weeks, including high weekly case numbers, high seven-day case averages and increasing percentages of tests that turn up positive, according to DHEC data.
That increase has impacted the state’s hospital capacity. As of Friday, 70.6% of beds across the state were occupied, and about 482 of them were being used by COVID-19 patients or those who are suspected of having it.
Some experts and DHEC officials believe the increase in cases could be due to residents moving more in public, a lack of social distancing and residents not wearing masks. Experts have said those factors could lead to later outbreaks.
Since April 20, Gov. Henry McMaster has been incrementally reopening businesses, starting with retail businesses and restaurants and adding businesses such as salons and gyms — where customers and staff sometimes are in close contact — and attractions.
On Thursday, McMaster called the lack of precautions “highly disappointing and highly dangerous.” When asked about whether he would consider reinstituting some restrictions on businesses and movement across the state, the governor said those measures “simply do not work.”
The governor and DHEC officials have asked that people continue to practice social distancing.
The coronavirus activity increase could also be due in part to DHEC’s increased testing. State health officials hope to test about 2% of the state’s population in June, a goal they met in May.
Since the first cases were identified in March, labs across the state have completed 238,808 tests.
DHEC has taken other steps to help with 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, who work to contact anyone who came near someone who tests positive for COVID-19.
New coronavirus cases
Aiken (1)
Anderson (4)
Bamberg (3)
Barnwell (2)
Beaufort (11)
Berkeley (3)
Calhoun (1)
Charleston (28)
Chester (3)
Chesterfield (15)
Clarendon (3)
Colleton (6)
Darlington (3)
Dillon (3)
Dorchester (14)
Edgefield (1)
Fairfield (9)
Florence (16)
Georgetown (3)
Greenville (77)
Greenwood (1)
Jasper (2)
Horry (30)
Kershaw (17)
Lancaster (7)
Laurens (1)
Lee (2)
Lexington (43)
Marlboro (9)
Newberry (4)
Oconee (1)
Orangeburg (15)
Pickens (6)
Richland (56)
Saluda (2)
Spartanburg (15)
Sumter (11)
Williamsburg (6)
York (13)
This story was originally published June 5, 2020 at 4:59 PM.
