SC adds 1,243 new COVID-19 cases as moving average hits highest mark since August
South Carolina’s COVID-19 numbers continue to rise, as health officials recorded an additional 1,243 confirmed cases Thursday, pushing the seven-day moving average of new cases to its highest total in months.
Officials from the Department of Health and Environmental Control have now recorded 1,000 or more new cases four times in the past week, with the moving average surpassing 1,200 cases for the first time since August. DHEC officials also reported eight more confirmed deaths related to the virus.
Since the first cases of COVID-19 were identified in South Carolina in March, officials have reported 179,832 confirmed cases and 3,817 confirmed deaths.
Health officials also reported 8,659 individual test results Thursday, putting the percentage of positive tests at 14.4%. It has been more than three weeks since DHEC has reported a percentage positive under 10%, a level that officials such as state epidemiologist Linda Bell have previously said indicates continued disease spread in the community.
The moving average rate of positive tests topped 20% in parts of July and declined to below 9% in late September, never reaching the 5% mark that health experts have cited as a goal for safely reopening.
Since the start of October, that average percentage has steadily started to increase again to around 14%.
A total of 2,249,528 tests have now been performed in the state since March.
Officials are now recommending regular testing for anyone who is “out and about” in the community or unable to wear a facial covering and practice social distancing be tested regularly and are urging residents to take advantage of free testing sites throughout the state. They’ve also expanded types of testing to include shallow nasal swabs, oral swabs or saliva testing at different locations.
Which counties were affected?
The Upstate region has seen a surge in new cases over the past month or so and accounted for many of the new cases reported Thursday — Greenville County led the state with 250 new cases, Spartanburg County had the second most with 127, and Anderson County had the third most with 99. Those three counties alone had more than one-third of Friday’s new cases.
In the Midlands, Richland County added 60 more cases, while neighboring Lexington County added 52.
How is COVID-19 trending in SC?
In recent weeks, parts of the country have hit a “third wave” of infections higher than the peaks seen in the spring and summer, leading to rising national numbers regularly surpassing 100,000 new cases per day.
South Carolina has 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.
Despite not reaching those highs, though, S.C. officials have warned that the state is seeing rises in key metrics, especially in the Upstate. Indicators such as daily case rates by population, percentage of positive tests and hospitalizations have all risen since the start of September. And while they have not reached July’s peaks, they are still at a rate that indicates continued disease spread.
The rate of testing, meanwhile, has declined from the highs reported in the middle of the summer, when DHEC was recording more than 10,000 tests per day, and plateaued throughout the fall.
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?
Across the country, health experts have said official case counts have likely under-counted the number of cases to large degrees. At one point, South Carolina officials estimated that 86% of those infected never got tested or diagnosed, but they no longer provide those estimations.
DHEC has 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 Thursday, health officials reported 67 new probable cases and no new probable deaths from COVID-19. That puts the total number of probable cases at 10,658 and total probable deaths at 267.
How are hospitals being impacted?
As of Thursday, DHEC reported that 810 patients were hospitalized with coronavirus-related symptoms, or 9.03% 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; 196 COVID-19 patients are in intensive care, and 91 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 12, 2020 at 2:09 PM.
