South Carolina reports 52 more deaths, nearly 1,000 new coronavirus cases
South Carolina health officials reported fewer than 1,000 new COVID-19 cases for the sixth day in a row Friday, though the percentage of tests coming back positive continues to stay above levels officials say are necessary to control the spread of the novel virus throughout the state.
The Department of Health and Environmental Control announced 967 new confirmed cases Friday, putting the state’s total since the coronavirus pandemic began in March at 109,135. With 7,436 specimens tested, the percentage of positive tests Friday was 13% — well above the 5% the World Health Organization suggests should be the standard before countries consider reopening and the goal cited by DHEC’s state epidemiologist, Linda Bell.
“Recently our numbers have been slowly trending downward, and for that to continue, we cannot let up,” Bell said during a conference call with reporters Friday. “To sustain this downward trajectory, we must be ever vigilant in taking aggressive measures to rein in this virus, because our disease rates are still very concerning.”
DHEC also reported 52 new confirmed deaths — the highest death toll of the week — bringing the total death toll to 2,339.
Which counties were affected?
No counties across South Carolina reported 100 or more new cases on Friday.
But Greenville County led the way with 92 new cases, while Spartanburg County added 91.
In the Midlands, Richland County had 86 new cases, while Lexington County logged 56, its highest total since Aug. 1. Lexington County has been one of the few counties in the state to see a decreasing rate of virus activity over the past few weeks.
Residents of the following counties died after contracting the virus: Abbeville (1), Aiken (1), Anderson (2), Barnwell (1), Beaufort (2), Charleston (5), Chester (1), Clarendon (1), Darlington (1), Dillon (1), Dorchester (5), Fairfield (1), Florence (2), Georgetown (2), Greenville (3), Greenwood (1), Hampton (1), Horry (1), Lancaster (1), Laurens (1), Lexington (2), Marion (1), Orangeburg (4), Richland (3), Spartanburg (3) and York (5).
Of those confirmed deaths, 44 were described as elderly and 65 years or older, while eight were in middle-aged individuals between 35 and 64 years old.
Are all cases accounted for?
State health officials estimate that around 86% of South Carolinians who contract the virus don’t get tested.
As of Friday, DHEC estimated that 747,255 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 a 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 Friday, state health officials reported 55 new probable cases and 10 new probable deaths. That brings the total number of probable cases up to 1,243 and total probable deaths to 120.
DHEC officials have also said the recent slow down in testing could mean that more people with the coronavirus have gone untested and undiagnosed.
How are hospitals being impacted?
As of Friday, the state reported 1,079 patients in South Carolina hospitals have coronavirus, including 278 patients in intensive care and 160 patients on ventilators.
In all, 81.7% of in-patient beds are occupied in S.C. hospitals, including 78% of beds in intensive care units.
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 as DHEC transitioned its reporting system from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the Department of Health and Human Services, as requested by the federal government. The agency said the new system will give more precise information about COVID-19-related hospital conditions.
How is COVID-19 trending in SC?
The number of daily new cases reported in South Carolina hit a high of 2,340 on July 18. In the month since, totals have steadily dropped. Two weeks ago, case counts ranged from just above 1,000 to more than 1,300. This week, the number of new cases has yet to crack 1,000, although health officials warn that may be because of lower rates of testing.
“We still need that percent positive to be significantly lower, and we recognize that we really do want to test a great deal more individuals, because we understand that there are still many many asymptomatic people in the population that may not be aware they are affected,” Bell said during a conference call with reporters Friday. “So, that that does not change our goal to significantly ramp up testing.”
On Friday, 13% of tests reported were positive, which officials said is high. Over the past two weeks, the trend of percentage of tests coming back positive has stayed flat, but it has declined from July, when the percentage hovered around 20%.
“Our goal has always been to see a consistent downward trend that persisted for at least 14 days at a very low level with a percent positive that is ... ideally, less than 5%,” Bell said. “And so if we were to achieve that goal of sustained disease activity suppression for at least two weeks, that would have widespread implications for a confidence that we could resume certain activities that are being evaluated now.”
Nationally, about 8.86% of tests turn up positive, according to the CDC.
In all, 966,634 tests have been completed in South Carolina since March. That includes 901,938 viral tests and 62,372 antibody tests, which do not test for an active infection but can tell a person whether they’ve been exposed to the virus before.
Bell said Friday that DHEC is planning to significantly expand the testing capacity of its own labs in the coming weeks and is evaluating a new saliva-based testing method developed by Yale University that has been approved by the FDA and is “open source,” meaning the method is publicly available.
This story was originally published August 21, 2020 at 2:14 PM.
