SC continues record breaking coronavirus week with 582 new cases Monday
South Carolina continued a record breaking week of coronavirus cases Monday after state health officials announced that 582 more people have tested positive for the virus.
The new cases, combined with the previous six days’ record-breaking case counts, total to 4,382 new infections in a week, by far the highest weekly count ever in the state, eclipsing the previous seven-days’ total of 2,772 new infections.
Department of Health and Environmental Control officials also announced that two additional people — who were from Charleston and Lexington counties — died after contracting the coronavirus.
Greenville County saw the largest increase in cases with 91. Locally, officials saw an increase of 42 cases in Richland County and 30 in Lexington County.
Since the state identified its first positive case of COVID-19 in the state in March, DHEC officials have recorded a total of 19,378 cases and 602 deaths.
Those numbers likely don’t paint the full picture. State health officials estimate that they have not tested or identified about 86% of COVID-19 patients. As of Monday, that means about 138,400 people across the state have likely had the virus.
State health officials have expressed alarm as coronavirus activity in the Palmetto State increased. Last week, state health officials saw daily case counts ranging from 434 to 802.
Since June 4, DHEC officials have recorded more than 350 cases each day. That’s much higher than in March, April and early May, where the daily numbers were below 275.
Officials have also seen an increase in the percentage of tests that are positive, a figure they’ve called more reliable than looking at just new case counts.
On Monday, 9.2% of COVID-19 tests were positive, a similar number to what officials saw in March and April, when the state saw a rapid increase in cases but completed less testing.
As the virus continues to spread at a faster pace, the burden on South Carolina hospitals has increased. As of Monday, hospitals were at 66% capacity. Of the 6,947 occupied beds across the state, 536 are being used by patients who were diagnosed with COVID-19 or who are believed to have it.
In six of the last eight days, the number of COVID-19 patients, confirmed or suspected, occupying hospital beds in South Carolina has exceeded 500 for the first time since the outbreak began.
DHEC officials have warned that an uptick in coronavirus cases may lead to an increase in hospitalizations weeks later.
State health officials have said the increase in cases could be due to more people leaving their homes and fewer wearing masks and practicing social distancing.
Since April 20, S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster has gradually reopened businesses. He also has said repeatedly that he does not plan to reimpose or add new restrictions on businesses or require residents to wear masks, adding that it’s South Carolinians’ individual responsibility to practice social distancing.
State health officials have said that their increased testing strategy could also be driving up the number of cases identified each day. DHEC set a goal of testing about 2% of the state’s population in June, a goal they met in May.
Since March, labs have completed 293,754 tests.
But while cases have increased drastically, the number of daily tests has stayed relatively steady since the week of May 10.
New coronavirus cases
Abbeville (3)
Aiken (2)
Anderson (6)
Bamberg (3)
Barnwell (1)
Beaufort (24)
Berkeley (19)
Calhoun (4)
Charleston (76)
Cherokee (1)
Chester (3)
Chesterfield (1)
Clarendon (7)
Colleton (3)
Darlington (3)
Dillon (1)
Dorchester (11)
Edgefield (1)
Fairfield (3)
Florence (13)
Georgetown (17)
Greenville (91)
Greenwood (8)
Horry (62)
Jasper (1)
Kershaw (4)
Lancaster (2)
Laurens (23)
Lexington (30)
Marion (2)
Marlboro (1)
Newberry (5)
Oconee (6)
Orangeburg (35)
Pickens (7)
Richland (42)
Saluda (2)
Spartanburg (32)
Sumter (7)
Union (1)
Williamsburg (3)
York (16)
This story was originally published June 15, 2020 at 4:08 PM.
