SC reports 1,883 COVID cases, 12 deaths Thursday
South Carolina on Thursday reported 1,883 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and 12 deaths from the virus.
It’s the first time daily cases have dropped below 2,000 in nearly a week, although the decline coincides with the lowest number of COVID-19 tests reported in the last week. About 25% fewer tests were reported Thursday than have been reported over the past six days when cases topped 2,000.
More than 16,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases have been reported in the past week, nearly 2,600 more than during any distinct seven-day period since the start of the pandemic, according to the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.
Hospitalizations for the coronavirus, which are up nearly 60% from a month ago, continued to climb Thursday and have now hit three-month highs in each of the past three days, according to DHEC. Nearly a quarter of those hospitalized with COVID-19 are in intensive care units and 10% are on ventilators, data show.
Since March, more than 225,000 people in South Carolina have tested positive for the novel coronavirus and 4,291 have died, according to DHEC.
The state counts another 16,633 cases, including 63 Thursday as probable positives, and another 336 deaths, including three Thursday, as probable COVID-19 deaths.
DHEC defines a probable case as someone who has not received a lab test result, but has virus symptoms or a positive antibody test. Probable deaths are ones where the death certificate lists COVID-19 as the cause of or a contributing factor to death, but the person was not tested for the virus.
Of the 8,828 tests reported Thursday, 21.3% came back positive.
The seven-day COVID-19 positivity rate, which provides an idea of how widespread infection is in a testing area, is at its highest point since mid-July.
Elevated percent positive rates indicate there are likely more people infected with COVID-19 in the community who have not yet been tested and that testing may need to be ramped up.
The World Health Organization earlier this year advised governments not to reopen until percent positive rates were at 5% or lower for at least 14 days.
Roughly 14% of all COVID-19 tests administered in South Carolina since March have come back positive, according to DHEC. The state’s 7-day percent positive rate briefly dipped below 5% in mid-May, but has otherwise remained well above the WHO’s guidelines for reopening.
DHEC urges anyone who is symptomatic or who has been exposed to someone with COVID-19 to get tested themselves, and recommends routine monthly testing for anyone who is out and about in the community, even if they are asymptomatic.
To find a testing location near you, visit DHEC’s website at scdhec.gov/covid19/covid-19-testing-locations.
Which counties were affected?
The Upstate continues to outpace all other South Carolina regions in COVID-19 cases since spiking last month.
Greenville County, the state’s most populous county, has reported more than twice as many cases as any other county in South Carolina over the past 25 days.
In the Upstate Thursday, Greenville again led all counties with 302 COVID-19 cases, followed by Spartanburg County (141, third in the state), Anderson County (119, fourth in the state) and Pickens County (111, seventh in the state), according to DHEC.
COVID-19 cases in the Midlands are below the Upstate’s numbers, but also have surged in recent weeks with Richland (151), York (117) and Lexington (108) counties reporting the second, fifth and eighth highest number of positive tests in the state Thursday.
The number of positive tests in the state’s Lowcountry and Pee Dee regions are well below the Upstate and the Midlands, but have been on a sharp upward trend for about the past 10 days.
Charleston and Horry reported 79 and 112 cases Thursday, the most in their respective regions.
Of the 12 deaths reported Thursday, 10 were elderly individuals (65 and older) and two were middle-aged (35-64), according to DHEC.
South Carolinians of all ages have died after contracting COVID-19, but the disease has taken the greatest toll on elderly residents.
The average age of all South Carolinians who have died from coronavirus complications is 75, and the vast majority of those who died — 87% — were over 60, data show.
The deaths reported Thursday included two residents each from Richland and Florence counties, and a single resident from Beaufort, Charleston, Darlington, Laurens, Lexington, Pickens, Sumter and York counties.
How are hospitals being impacted?
DHEC reported 1,232 people in South Carolina were hospitalized for the coronavirus Thursday, an 18% jump from a week ago, and the most since COVID-19 patients occupied 1,246 hospital beds on Aug. 15.
Hospitalizations for COVID-19 peaked at 1,723 on July 23.
Coronavirus patients made up 13.4% of all reported inpatients in South Carolina Thursday, according to DHEC.
The 292 of those COVID-19 inpatients in intensive care units is more than at any point in at least the last 30 days, data show.
Total hospital bed occupancy and ICU bed occupancy has ticked slightly higher in recent days, with 82.4% of the state’s hospital beds and 79.4% of its ICU beds occupied.
In Richland County, 72.3% of hospital beds are occupied Thursday, and in Lexington County, 94.5% of beds are full, data show.
How is COVID-19 trending in SC?
Daily case rates have risen more than 81% in the past 30 days and are currently the highest they’ve ever been, with 35 people per 100,000 testing positive for the novel coronavirus over the past 30 days.
COVID-19 hospitalizations, which have topped 1,000 statewide for the past eight days, are 39% higher Thursday than they’ve been on average over the past month, according to DHEC.
The number of people being tested across the state has shot up over the past month, with an average of 193 tests per 100,000 individuals performed daily in the last 30 days, a 36% increase from the month prior, data shows.
An average of 16.3% of those tests have come back positive in the past 30 days.
Overall, more than 2.9 million tests have been conducted in South Carolina.
This story was originally published December 10, 2020 at 1:58 PM.