Coronavirus live updates: Here’s what to know in South Carolina on Oct. 5
We’re tracking the most up-to-date information about the coronavirus in South Carolina. Check back for updates.
Cases top 147,000
At least 147,116 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in South Carolina, and 3,258 have died, according to state health officials.
The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control on Monday reported 545 new cases of the virus, down from 619 reported the day before.
As of Monday, 11% of COVID-19 tests were positive, DHEC says. That’s down slightly from 11.8% Sunday, and a significant drop from 32.6% Saturday — a spike caused by a “temporary reporting delay” as the agency upgrades its internal database.
Three deaths were reported Monday.
Testing increases in SC after Trump diagnosis
Prisma Health has been performing more COVID-19 tests, and receiving more requests to schedule testing, since news broke about President Donald Trump’s diagnosis.
“People are symptomatic, and there is a heightened awareness of COVID-19 after the superspreader event,” said Dr. Saria Saccicio, ambulatory chief medical officer at Prisma Health Greenville, referring to alate-September event at the White House attended by many who later tested positive for the coronavirus.
Saccicio said Trump falling ill has motivated more South Carolinians to get themselves checked.
“The best recommendation is to be tested,” she said. “Thanks to President Trump, there is an increased awareness that COVID-19 is still with us.”
Midlands company pushed false coronavirus treatment
A Columbia-based pharmaceutical company has been warned by the Food and Drug Administration to stop promoting an asthma treatment drug it manufactures as a “cost effective way” to treat the coronavirus.
According to a letter from the FDA to Nephron Pharmaceuticals, CEO Lou Kennedy and a company sales representative sent emails claiming their Budesonide inhaler product could treat respiratory issues caused by COVID-19.
There is no proof the drug can do that, the FDA says.
“These claims and representations, which misleadingly suggest that Budesonide is safe and effective for a use for which it is not approved and for which you have provided no evidence to support, are particularly alarming from a public health perspective because COVID-19 has caused significant morbidity and mortality, and because there is currently no FDA-approved treatment for symptoms associated with COVID-19,” Robert Dean, director for the FDA’s Office of Prescription Drug Promotion, wrote in the letter.
In a statement, Nephron’s CEO said the company is “working diligently with FDA to resolve the matter and have no further comment at this time.”
Columbia veteran’s parade canceled
Columbia’s 42nd annual Veteran’s Day parade has been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the city’s Parks and Recreation Department announced Monday.
The parade was called off “to protect citizens and minimize opportunities to spread COVID-19 in our community,” officials said in a release.
Graham, Harrison face off over COVID-19 in debate
Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and Democratic challenger Jaime Harrison met on the debate stage Saturday night and faced off over the pandemic and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Harrison said President Donald Trump isn’t to blame for the initial COVID-19 outbreak in the United States, but that blame should be directed toward federal and state leaders’ management of the virus that has claimed more than 200,000 American lives.
“We need a strategy, a 50-state strategy, and the failure of leadership — again, we’re not blaming anybody for the inception of this — but the failure of leadership of addressing this, we failed to act,” he said. “The Senate failed to act. The White House failed to act. The governors failed to act. We need leaders who are going to step up and act.”
Graham called the virus “serious” and acknowledged Harrison’s loss of a family member to it. But he said “we have to move on as a nation” and focus on a vaccine, therapeutics and the president’s U.S. Supreme Court justice nominee, Amy Coney Barrett. Graham chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will vet Barrett.
“It will be done safely, but I’ve got a job to do and I’m pressing on,” he said.
The debate was the first between the two candidates and was held Saturday night at Allen University, a historically Black school in Columbia. The two discussed a range of issues, including policing, social security, Medicaid expansion, infrastructure, negative ads and climate change. But the focus often shifted to the COVID-19 pandemic, The State reports.
The debate came as Trump was receiving hospital treatment for COVID-19.
Graham has been in the presence of someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 in recent weeks. He was tested for the virus and said his results were negative. The debate was held without an audience in the room, and the candidates were 13 feet apart. Both wore masks onto the stage but removed them for the debate.
Mail-in voting witness requirement lands in U.S. Supreme Court
A legal battle over the witness requirement for absentee voting in South Carolina is now in the U.S. Supreme Court, court filings show.
The battle, which has pitted Democrats and Republicans against each other, started Sept. 18 when U.S. District Judge Michelle Childs of Columbia ordered that South Carolinians voting by mail not be required to get a witness signature on their mail-in ballot envelope because of the dangers of COVID-19.
Her order was appealed to the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, and on Sept. 24, a three-judge panel overturned her order. But on Sept. 25, a majority of the full 4th Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the panel’s ruling and reinstated Childs’ order.
The S.C. Election Commission’s governing board, which is majority Republican, last Monday voted to appeal the full 4th Circuit ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, and on Thursday, lawyers representing the state Election Commission, the state Republican Party and others submitted a 37-page request for an emergency stay of Childs’ order with the high court. Lawyers for the Democrats were given until 2 p.m. Saturday to submit an opposing motion.
The Supreme Court will first have to decide whether to take the case. If it doesn’t, the full 4th Circuit ruling will be upheld and Childs’ order will stand.
South Carolina voters are expected to cast hundreds of thousands of absentee ballots this election.
The AARP has voiced concerns to the Supreme Court regarding witness signatures, asking the court to uphold Childs’ decision.
“South Carolina law (requiring a witness signature) needlessly puts at great risk the health of medically vulnerable individuals,” the AARP filing said.
While the AARP is not directly involved in the lawsuit, the senior citizen group filed as a friend of the court, meaning it believes the court’s decision will impact the organization and it wants the judges to know where the AARP stands on the issue.
This story was originally published October 5, 2020 at 7:16 AM.
