More than 600 new cases of COVID-19 and a dozen more deaths confirmed in South Carolina
Health officials confirmed 619 new cases of COVID-19 and a dozen more coronavirus-related deaths in South Carolina on Sunday.
This brings the total number of positive tests to 146,576, and confirmed deaths to 3,255, according to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.
The new results are based on 5,228 tests, bringing the percent positive to 11.8%.
Which counties were affected?
Richland County has seen a bump in case counts in late August, but was fourth in the state Sunday, with 51 new cases, according to DHEC. There were 42 new positive tests reported in Lexington County, while Kershaw County had 11 confirmed cases, health officials said.
Since testing began in March, 15,719 cases have been confirmed in Richland County, with 7,742 in Lexington County, and 2,098 in Kershaw County, data shows.
Greenville County had the most new reported cases Sunday, with 89, followed by Oconee (65) and Spartanburg (53) counties, according to DHEC.
Other than one case involving a middle-age person (35-64 years old) in Charleston County, all of the new deaths reported Sunday involved elderly people (65 and older), health officials said.
Three deaths were reported in Greenville County, two were confirmed in Anderson County and single deaths occurred in Abbeville, Barnwell, Beaufort, Florence, Newberry and York counties, according to DHEC.
Overall, 235 deaths have been reported in Richland County, while 167 were confirmed in Lexington County, and another 37 in Kershaw County, data shows.
Are all cases accounted for?
State health officials have estimated that more than 80% of South Carolinians who contract the virus don’t get tested.
DHEC has also been recording probable cases and 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.
On Sunday, state health officials reported 20 new probable cases and no new probable deaths. That puts the total number of probable cases at 5,006 and total probable deaths at 198.
How are hospitals being impacted?
As of Sunday, the state reported 599 patients in South Carolina hospitals have the novel coronavirus, including 153 in intensive care and 72 on ventilators. The number of patients hospitalized at one time peaked at 1,723 on July 23.
In all, 7,409 of 9,472 inpatient beds in S.C. hospitals were occupied, including 985 ICU beds, according to DHEC.
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.
The seven-day moving average dipped again and has stayed below 1,000 new cases per day in late September and October. This week, DHEC is projecting 4,233 new cases for the state. Since September there have been 5,000 or less new cases per week, according to health officials.
State health officials credited the decline in cases since July in part to a significant slowdown in virus activity in areas with face mask requirements and where residents are practicing social distancing. In particular, DHEC data has shown that the areas that implemented mask ordinances the earliest have seen the largest overall declines.
But health officials have also said lower testing totals have played a role as well. 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 less than 3,000 tests reported in a day on multiple occasions.
Officials have said there has not been a reduction in testing capacity, but demand has slowed as “testing fatigue” sets in. The Department of Health and Human Services deployed a federal “surge testing team” that has set up free testing sites and opportunities in the Columbia area over the next several weeks.
To account for lower test totals, officials have highlighted the importance of percentage of tests run that come back positive. The seven-day moving average of that percentage in South Carolina rose to nearly 20% in early September but has declined to under 12% in recent weeks.
Nationally, about 8.2% of tests have turned up positive, according to the CDC. In South Carolina, that percentage has been higher since March, at 14.8%. In all, 1,500,334 tests have been completed in the state since March.
This story was originally published October 4, 2020 at 11:37 AM.
