SC health officials report more than 1,400 new COVID-19 cases, eight deaths
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control announced 1,463 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus and eight new deaths on Sunday.
This brings the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Carolina to 44,717, probable cases to 130, and confirmed deaths to 813. There are seven more probable deaths, according to DHEC.
WHICH COUNTIES WERE AFFECTED?
Charleston County reported the most new cases with 276 with Greenville County at 168. Greenville has the most reported cases with 5,855. Charleston is second with 5,650.
In the Midlands, Richland and Lexington counties logged 116 and 71 new cases, respectively. That raises the total of positive tests to 4,067 in Richland County, and 2,379 in Lexington County, according to DHEC.
Of the newly reported deaths, health officials described five of the people as elderly individuals from Charleston, Dorchester, Greenville, Lancaster and Orangeburg counties. DHEC said three of the deaths occurred in middle aged individuals, with two in Spartanburg County and another in Horry County.
Since testing began in March, a state-high 87 people have died from coronavirus-related illnesses in Richland County, according to DHEC. Lexington County is third in South Carolina with 56 reported COVID-19 deaths.
HOW ARE HOSPITALS BEING IMPACTED?
The state’s health agency reported another daily high of hospitalizations because of the virus.
DHEC reported 1,251 hospital beds currently in use are now occupied by COVID-19 patients. Across South Carolina, there are 3,387 inpatient hospital beds available and 7,296 are in use, which is a 68.3% statewide hospital bed utilization rate.
Statewide hospitalizations because of the coronavirus are up 51 percent over the past two weeks.
Should the state run out of available beds, Gov. Henry McMaster last month said South Carolina is ready to implement an expanded hospital plan that will open up more bed space and he might require hospitals to postpone elective procedures.
ARE ALL CASES ACCOUNTED FOR?
Not quite.
South Carolina’s health department reiterated Thursday it estimates as many as 86% of cases in the state have gone undiagnosed or untested.
With that estimate, it would mean the state’s total number of cases could be at roughly 282,750.
Since last month, DHEC now tracks what officials consider probable cases or probable deaths.
A probable case is a person who has not received lab test results but has virus symptoms or a positive antibody test. A probable death is a person who has not gotten a lab test but whose death certificate lists COVID-19 as a cause of death or as a contributing factor.
DHEC estimated there are 319,393 total possible COVID-19 cases in South Carolina, even though 44,717 have been officially confirmed.
HOW IS COVID-19 TRENDING IN SC?
Last month, daily case counts ranged from more than 500 early on to a record daily high of more than 1,700 at June’s end.
In the past seven days, there was an average of 1,634 cases and 14 deaths each day. In May, the state never had more than 400 cases in a single day.
DHEC projects 10,597 new cases for the upcoming week.
Another indicator of the virus’ spread is the percentage of COVID-19 tests reporting back as positive.
DHEC reported on Sunday a 16.6% positive rate for the 8,831 tests, compared to the state’s lowest point at 2% to 4% back in May. There has been at least 10 positive rate every day since June 15.
Through Saturday, 473,543 tests have been conducted in South Carolina, according to DHEC.
WHY ARE CASE NUMBERS UP?
It goes beyond simply the expansion of COVID-19 testing statewide, health officials say.
Statewide since March, labs have completed more than 400,000 tests. A person can have multiple tests, but 400,000 would represent about 7.8% of all South Carolinians. In the coming months, the health department plans to continue increasing testing to about 140,000 tests in both July and August and 165,000 tests a month by the new year.
“Doing testing doesn’t create new cases,” DHEC’s Linda Bell said last week. “When we test, we’re finding cases that are already out there.”
Health officials say not enough South Carolinians are implementing safety measures into their daily lives that include social distancing and avoiding large crowds and wearing face masks. Several counties and cities, including Columbia, now enforce face masks.
Still, it is expected that cases might rise even more with the July 4 holiday weekend and many people headed to the beaches across the state.
DHEC and hospitals are seeing a large surge in the number of younger adults testing positive.
This week, the health agency reported 966% increase in people ages 11 to 20 and 413% increase in people ages 21 to 30 testing positive for COVID-19 in recent weeks.
McMaster has said he will not set a statewide mask ordinance despite urging people to wear one, calling it impossible to enforce.
Since April, McMaster has gradually allowed businesses to reopen, including restaurants, beaches, gyms and salons.
McMaster told reporters last month he has no plans to impose more restrictions on businesses. But he did stress that should cases continue to skyrocket in South Carolina, fall sports, including college football, could be canceled.
This story was originally published July 5, 2020 at 12:02 PM.
