South Carolina hits record number of days under 1,000 cases since virus peak
South Carolina hit a new record on Monday in its road to recovery from COVID-19.
It was the 14th straight day the state has reported under 1,000 new coronavirus cases in a single day, capping a trend of falling case numbers in recent weeks.
The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control announced 393 new cases of coronavirus on Monday, and 13 confirmed deaths caused by COVID-19.
In total, the state has confirmed 134,884 cases since March and 3,040 deaths.
But state health officials also continue to stress the need for more testing in the state. On Sunday, 4,120 coronavirus tests were conducted statewide, and 9.5% were positive.
Are all cases accounted for?
State health officials estimate that around 86% of South Carolinians who contract the virus don’t get tested. Nationally, about 8.3% of tests have turned up positive, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
DHEC has also been recording probable cases and probable deaths. Monday’s report had 14 probable cases and no probable deaths.
A probable case is someone who has not received a lab test result 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.
Ahead of the Labor Day weekend, DHEC and other health experts warned of a possible spike in cases as residents planned vacations to crowded beaches and students returned to schools.
The state saw a similar increase in May after Memorial Day, when cases rose from about 100-300 cases per day to more than 1,000, and, to a lesser extent, in July after Independence Day, going from 1,600 to 1,900.
Two weeks later, that projected spike is not immediately indicated in the numbers, which have remained low.
How is COVID-19 trending in SC?
The number of daily new cases reported in South Carolina hit a high of 2,343 on July 18.
In the month after, totals slowly dropped, including a stretch of 13 days in a row when case counts were under 1,000.
On Monday, the state broke that record with 14 days in a row with under 1,000 cases announced.
State health officials are projecting 3,936 new cases for Sept. 20-26.
Some experts worry testing fatigue has set in among the population. After regularly reporting more than 10,000 tests a day in July, DHEC has not recorded that many throughout August and September and bottomed out at under 3,000 tests reported in a day on multiple occasions.
DHEC recommends anyone out and about in the community, around others, or not able to socially distance or wear a mask should get tested at least once a month.
State health officials have credited the decline in part to local mask requirements passed in different cities and counties around South Carolina starting in July. Also effective in slowing the spread of the virus are efforts at social distancing, officials say.
Which counties were affected?
County numbers on Monday followed a familiar pattern. Richland County led the state with 47 new cases, followed by Greenville with 35 and Lexington with 31.
Richland has seen a bump in case counts since college students returned to campus at the University of South Carolina in late August. The number of active cases on campus hit a high of almost 1,500 earlier this month, but USC reported that identified cases had dropped to 170 on its Columbia campus as of Friday.
Greenville County reported three deaths of elderly COVID-19 patients on Monday, while Lexington and Florence counties reported two each. Anderson, Charleston, Dillon, Hampton, Lancaster and Richland counties each reported one coronavirus death.
The death in Richland and one death each in Lexington and Florence counties were individuals between the ages of 35 and 64.
How are hospitals being impacted?
As of Monday, 733 patients are hospitalized in South Carolina have been hospitalized with coronavirus symptoms, or 9% of all hospital patients.
Of those patients, 203 are in intensive care, where the percentage of coronavirus patients rises to 28%. 123 are on ventilators, 17% of the total number of ventilated patients.
This story was originally published September 21, 2020 at 3:33 PM.
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