SC adds nearly 750 new coronavirus cases on Election Day, DHEC reports
As hundreds of thousands of South Carolinians headed to the polls Tuesday, state health officials reported 741 more confirmed cases and 18 new confirmed deaths related to COVID-19.
With officials from the Department of Health and Environmental Control reporting 5,027 individual test results on the day, the percentage of positive tests at 14.7%. It has now been more than two weeks since DHEC has reported a percentage positive under 10%, a level that officials have previously said indicates continued disease spread in the community.
Since the first cases of the coronavirus were identified in South Carolina in March, officials have reported 170,862 cases and 3,713 deaths.
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 for safely reopening.
A total of 2,053,653 tests have now been performed in the state since March. 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, which has seen a surge in new cases over the past few weeks, once more led the state in new cases Tuesday, adding 85.
In the Midlands, Richland County added 61 new cases, while neighboring Lexington County added 57.
The deaths reported Tuesday occurred among individuals from Abbeville (1), Charleston (4), Cherokee (1), Florence (1), Greenville (4) Horry (1), Kershaw (1), Richland (1), Spartanburg (3) and Union (1).
DHEC reported that the two of the individuals who died — one in Charleston County, one in Greenville County — were young adults, defined as being between 18 and 34 years old. Four others were middle aged, defined as being between 35 and 64 years old, and the rest were elderly, defined by DHEC as 65 years old and up.
How is COVID-19 trending in SC?
While parts of the country have hit a “third wave” of infections higher than the peaks seen in the spring and summer, South Carolina has thus far not seen several of its key metrics hit the highs reached in July — the number of daily new cases reported hit a peak of 2,343 on July 18, the seven-day moving average of the percentage of positive tests topped out at 21.2% on July 14 and the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients reached 1,723 on July 23.
As of Tuesday, both the moving average number of daily new cases and the number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized has stayed below 1,000, while the percentage of positive tests have stayed below 15% for all of October.
However, the rate of new cases and hospitalizations have both increased over the past month.
The rate of testing, though, has plateaued after also declining from the highs reported in the middle of the summer, when DHEC was recording more than 10,000 tests per day.
Officials have said there has not been a reduction in testing capacity but in demand as “testing fatigue” sets in, and they’ve urged residents to get tested more regularly to hit testing goals.
Are all cases accounted for?
State health officials at one point estimated that around 86% of South Carolinians who contract the virus didn’t get tested. Across the country, health 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 Tuesday, health officials reported 85 new probable cases and six new probable deaths from COVID-19. That puts the total number of probable cases at 9,090 and total probable deaths at 255.
How are hospitals being impacted?
As of Tuesday, DHEC reported that 737 patients were hospitalized with coronavirus-related symptoms, or 9.13% 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; 202 COVID-19 patients are in intensive care, and 104 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 November 3, 2020 at 1:44 PM.
