SC records 636 COVID-19 cases with lowest testing total in more than three weeks
South Carolina health officials reported 636 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, the state’s lowest case count in more than a week — but also recorded the highest percentage of positive tests since the beginning of October.
Officials with the Department of Health and Environmental Control also reported 32 more confirmed deaths related to the virus Wednesday. Since the first cases of the coronavirus were identified in South Carolina in March, officials have reported 165,477 cases and 3,634 deaths.
With just 4,096 individual test results reported Wednesday, the percentage of positive tests was 15.5%. That marks both the fewest number of tests and the highest positive percentage the state has seen since Oct. 2. A total of 1,936,739 tests have now been performed in the state since March.
The average rate of positive tests topped 20% in parts of July and has declined since, but it is still well above the 5% mark that health experts, including DHEC state epidemiologist Linda Bell, have cited as a goal, and it has risen over the past 30 days.
Officials are now recommending anyone who is “out and about” in the community or not able to wear a facial covering and practice social distancing be tested at least once a month, in order to track and curb the spread of asymptomatic cases.
Which counties were affected?
Greenville County led the state in new cases Wednesday with 90. In the Midlands, Richland County reported 54 new cases, while neighboring Lexington County had 31.
The deaths reported Wednesday occurred among individuals from Abbeville (1), Allendale (1), Berkeley (1), Colleton (1), Greenville (5), Horry (1), Kershaw (1), Lexington (2), Marion (1), Newberry (4), Oconee (1), Pickens (2), Richland (1), Saluda (1), Spartanburg (6), Sumter (1), Union (1) and York (1).
DHEC reported that the individual who died in Richland County was a young adult, defined as between 18 and 34 years old. Four others who died were middle-aged, defined by DHEC as between 35 and 64 years old. The remaining 27 were elderly, defined by DHEC as 65 years or older.
How is COVID-19 trending in SC?
Last Friday, DHEC launched a new dashboard aimed at giving residents a quick look at how seven sets of data related to the pandemic are trending in South Carolina:
- Rate of cases per 100,000 residents
- Rate of tests per 100,000 residents
- Percentage of positive tests
- Deaths by date
- Hospitalizations
- ICU hospitalizations
- COVID-19 patients on ventilators
As of Wednesday, the rate of cases, the percentage of positive tests and the number of hospitalizations have trended upward over the previous 30 days.
None of these metrics have hit the highs the state saw in July, when the number of daily new cases reported hit a high of 2,343 on July 18, the seven-day moving average of the percentage of positive tests peaked at 21.2% on July 14 and the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients reached 1,723 on July 23.
The rate of testing, meanwhile, has inched only slightly upwards as of late and has declined from its highs in the middle of the summer, when DHEC was reporting more than 10,000 tests per day.
Officials have said there has not been a reduction in testing capacity, but demand has slowed as “testing fatigue” sets in.
Are all cases accounted for?
State health officials estimated in the past that around 86% of South Carolinians who contract the virus didn’t get tested, and global experts have said official case counts have likely under-counted the number of cases.
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 Wednesday, health officials reported 66 new probable cases and four new probable deaths from COVID-19. That puts the total number of probable cases at 8,014 and total probable deaths at 242.
How are hospitals being impacted?
As of Wednesday, DHEC reported that 810 patients were hospitalized with coronavirus-related symptoms, or 9.47% of all patients currently in the hospital. The number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 at one time in the state peaked at 1,723 on July 23.
Some have more serious conditions than others; 201 COVID-19 patients are in intensive care, and 95 are on ventilators.
Health officials said COVID-19 can cause mild to severe illness. Older adults and people who have serious underlying medical conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes, and/or chronic lung diseases, are at a higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19, according to DHEC.
This story was originally published October 28, 2020 at 1:51 PM.
