New COVID-19 cases drop below 1,000 with lessening percent positive, DHEC says
Department of Health and Environmental Control officials announced Saturday that 986 more South Carolinians tested positive for the coronavirus, bringing the total number of people diagnosed with the virus since March to 104,874.
State health officials cautioned that the lower daily case numbers reported this week could be due in part to fewer people getting tested for the coronavirus. Testing has slowed over the last week, from about 12,500 tests reported August 7 to about 3,900 tests reported Wednesday. DHEC officials said the change is due to fewer people seeking out tests, which could be due in part to result delays from private labs.
DHEC’s Dr. Brannon Traxler said the high percentage of tests that turn up positive indicates that there are likely people with the coronavirus who have not received tests.
On Saturday, 16.5% of tests reported turned up positive, which officials have said is high, but a decline from July when the percentage hovered around 20%.
“When we’re still seeing those high levels of percent positive rates, I think it still suggests to us that there are a lot of cases out there going unidentified and there is a lot of disease going around,” Traxler said.
Traxler urged anyone with symptoms or who may have been exposed to someone with the virus to get tested for COVID-19.
There are 120 mobile testing events scheduled through Oct. 13 with new testing events added regularly. Mobile and permanent testing sites can be found at DHEC’s website.
“Each and every person out there who has reason to be concerned ... we really encourage them to go and get tested,” Traxler said.
State health officials also reported that 51 more people died after contracting COVID-19.
The total death toll across the state is now 2,156.
Which counties were affected?
Richland County saw the largest increase in new coronavirus cases Saturday with 104, followed by Charleston, which had 99, according to DHEC.
Lexington County saw 38 new cases.
The following counties had residents die after contracting COVID-19: Aiken (2), Anderson (4), Barnwell (1), Beaufort (1), Berkeley (3), Charleston (4), Colleton (2), Darlington (1), Dorchester (5), Florence (3), Greenville (4), Horry (1), Jasper (1), Laurens (1), Lexington (2), Newberry (1), Oconee (1), Orangeburg (4), Pickens (2), Richland (3), Spartanburg (3), York (2)
Are all cases accounted for?
State health officials estimate that up to 86% of South Carolinians who contract the virus don’t get tested.
As of Saturday, they estimated that 742,994 people in all have likely contracted COVID-19 since March.
DHEC has also been recording probable cases and probable deaths.
A probable case is someone who has not received lab test results but has virus symptoms or a positive antibody test.
A probable death is someone who has not gotten a lab test but whose death certificate lists COVID-19 as a cause of death or a contributing factor.
On Saturday, state health officials reported 22 new probable cases and six new probable deaths. That brings the total number of probable cases up to 1,008 and total probable deaths to 104.
How is COVID-19 trending in SC?
South Carolina has seen more than 1,000 new cases reported nearly every day since June 24, though cases have fallen below 1,000 in recent days.
New cases announced in the last four weeks accounted for nearly 44% of all cases since March. Last week, daily case counts ranged from 1,105 to 1,295, a decline from the previous week, when the daily case count ranged from 1,170 to 1,666.
State health officials said Friday that the virus’ progression is slowing thanks to local mask mandates and residents practicing social distancing and wearing masks. Cases have been slowly decreasing over the last seven days.
The percentage of COVID-19 tests that turn up positive each day — another indicator of the coronavirus’ spread — has recently lowered from around 20% daily to about 18% on average.
On Saturday, 16.5% of tests reported were positive, similar to what health officials saw in March and early April and higher than what the percent positive has been in recent days. In May, at its lowest point, the percentage of positive tests fell between 2% and 4% on average.
Nationally, about 8.7% of tests turn up positive, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the World Health Organization suggests that the percent of positive tests should be below 5% before countries consider reopening.
In all, 922,143 tests have been completed since March.
How are deaths trending?
Deaths reported to DHEC officials each day are delayed, so each day’s release of death numbers results in cases being added to the state’s daily death counts for previous days. For example, the 51 confirmed COVID-19 deaths reported Saturday dated as far back as June 21. However, most of the deaths occurred the week of Aug. 8.
Regardless, the state has seen an increase in deaths starting in late June. Changes in the number of deaths tend to lag behind changes in the number of cases, according to DHEC. So, if cases begin to decrease, it will be a few weeks before deaths follow suit.
On its deadliest day, around July 20, the coronavirus took the lives of 54 South Carolinians.
How are hospitals being impacted?
Starting in late June, the number of hospitalized coronavirus patients steadily increased.
Of the 1,246 people hospitalized with confirmed or suspected cases of the coronavirus, 311 are in intensive care and, of those, 181 are on ventilators, state health officials said Saturday.
Across the state, 8,304 of 10,314 total hospital beds are in use, meaning 80.5% are being used.
The number of coronavirus patients hospitalized at one time peaked at more than 1,700 on July 23, and the state has seen small decreases in those daily numbers since.
Some data since late July was unavailable, though, because DHEC is transitioning to a new tracking system, which would give more precise information about COVID-19-related hospital conditions.
S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster has said the state is ready to implement a plan to create new bed space if hospitals become overburdened. He added he may require medical facilities to postpone elective procedures again.
This story was originally published August 15, 2020 at 1:44 PM.