SC caps record-breaking week with 770 new coronavirus cases
The number of coronavirus cases in South Carolina continues to grow at a rapid rate, with the Department of Health and Environmental Control announcing 770 new cases Saturday.
That figure matches the number of new cases announced Friday, which was a record for the state since the pandemic began in March. (DHEC later revised Friday’s numbers to record 772 new cases reported.)
All told, the state has now recorded 17,955 cases of COVID-19. Since Sunday, 3,720 cases have been reported — more than 20% of the state’s total.
Also, with the addition of six new deaths related to the virus reported Saturday, the state’s death toll is now at 599.
Greenville County, which has become a new hotspot of the virus and leads all counties in the state in total cases, added the most new cases Saturday, with 157. Along the coast, Horry County reported a record 101 new cases to push it past 1,000 total.
In the Midlands, Richland and Lexington counties added 61 and 50 new cases, respectively.
Of the six deaths reported Saturday, four were elderly individuals in Cherokee, Darlington, Greenville, and Richland counties, while two were middle-aged individuals in Greenville and Horry counties.
DHEC officials continue to estimate that they have not tested or identified about 86% of COVID-19 patients across the state. As of Saturday, that would put the total number of cases around 128,250.
State epidemiologist Linda Bell expressed alarm over South Carolina’s rapidly increasing coronavirus activity during a press conference Wednesday after announcing the state has seen its third day with more than 500 cases over the last week.
“I have to say that today, I am more concerned about COVID-19 in South Carolina than I ever have been before,” Bell said.
From the seven-day average of daily new cases, to the percentage of all tests conducted that are positive to the number of hospitalizations, DHEC has seen an increase in virus activity over the last month.
The trend in “positivity” rate — the percentage of tests turning up positive — has been climbing for several weeks after a plateau that followed the early outbreak of the virus in March and April, when the state saw a rapid increase in coronavirus cases but was doing less testing.
On Saturday, the positivity rate was 13.3%, the fifth day in a row DHEC has recorded over 10% — the first time that’s happened in a month.
State health officials have pledged to ramp up testing and contact tracing capabilities — DHEC set a goal of testing about 2% of the state’s population, 110,000 people, in both May and June and met that goal in May.
But while the number of daily new cases continues to rise, the number of daily new tests has stayed relatively steady since the week of May 10.
And while cases grow, so does the burden on South Carolina’s hospitals. A week ago, health care facilities reported that 482 hospital beds were occupied by patients who have either tested positive or are under investigation for COVID-19. On Saturday, that total had increased to 523.
DHEC officials have warned that an uptick in coronavirus cases may precede an increase in hospitalizations several weeks later.
The surge in new cases, state health officials have said, could be due to more people leaving their homes as society begins to reopen, with fewer wearing masks and practicing social distancing. Experts have said those health and safety protocols are necessary to avoid later outbreaks, a warning Bell echoed Wednesday.
Businesses, including restaurants, salons, retail stores and tourist attractions, have also been gradually reopening in S.C. since April 20, when Gov. Henry McMaster began lifting restrictions. McMaster has said that despite the rise in cases, he does not plan to reimplement any of those restrictions, instead saying that South Carolinians must use individual responsibility to practice social distancing.
McMaster and officials from DHEC, the S.C. Hospital Association, the S.C. Medical Association and S.C. Office of Rural Health have all continued to urge residents to practice social distancing.
This story was originally published June 13, 2020 at 3:21 PM.
