SC sets monthly COVID-19 case record Tuesday, as 2,055 cases, 15 deaths reported
South Carolina has reported more cases in the first 22 days of December than any prior month of the pandemic, according to state health data.
December eclipsed July as the month with the state’s most confirmed coronavirus cases Tuesday, as state health officials announced 2,055 new cases to bring the monthly total to 52,484.
Gov. Henry McMaster, who was diagnosed with COVID-19 late Monday night, is among the day’s confirmed cases.
The state Department of Health and Environmental Control has now reported more than 2,000 daily cases in 19 of the last 20 days.
Prior to the recent spike in cases, South Carolina had reported 2,000 or more daily cases only three times, and never on consecutive days.
Nearly one-quarter of the 257,340 confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Carolina since March have been recorded in the last 30 days, data show.
Of those South Carolinians infected, 627 have died from coronavirus complications during that span, including 15 deaths announced Tuesday, bringing South Carolina’s cumulative death toll to 4,602, according to DHEC
Many others remain hospitalized.
COVID-19 hospitalizations, which have risen sharply in recent weeks, were at a nearly five-month high Tuesday at 1,586 patients, with coronavirus patients making up more than 18% of all inpatients statewide, according to DHEC.
The state counts an additional 20,715 cases, including 32 Tuesday as probable positives, and an additional 374 deaths as probable COVID-19 deaths.
DHEC defines a probable case as someone who has had a positive antigen test or has virus symptoms and is at high risk for infection. 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.
State health officials said 18.1% of the 11,365 tests reported Tuesday came back positive.
The state’s 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 more people are likely to be 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 15% 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.
Nearly 43,000 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine arrived in South Carolina last week, with an additional 30,225 doses expected to follow this week, according to DHEC.
As of Tuesday afternoon, nearly 20,000 South Carolinians, primarily frontline health care workers, had received doses, the agency said.
Residents and staff of long-term care facilities, who are being vaccinated exclusively with the Moderna vaccine, should start receiving their first doses next week, according to DHEC.
Others who are at increased risk of contracting the virus or are at high risk of experiencing severe complications from it will be prioritized for vaccination over the next several months.
In the meantime, state health officials have advised South Carolinians to continue taking measures to mitigate spread of COVID-19 such as wearing masks, avoiding group gatherings and practicing physical distancing.
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.
How are hospitals being impacted?
Hospitalizations for COVID-19 have exceeded 1,400 statewide for the past week, the highest sustained occupancy level since early August.
The 1,586 people reported hospitalized with the coronavirus Tuesday is the most since late July, when COVID-19 hospitalizations peaked at 1,723 people, according to DHEC.
Of those hospitalized with COVID-19 Tuesday, 344 patients were in intensive care units and 170 were on ventilators, both recent highs.
Total hospital bed occupancy and ICU bed occupancy remains steady at around 80%, with 78.4% of the state’s hospital beds and 76.5% of its ICU beds occupied.
In Richland County, 72.4% of hospital beds are occupied Tuesday, and in Lexington County, 94.5% of beds are taken, data show.
Which counties were affected?
COVID-19 cases in the Upstate have skyrocketed over the past two months, outpacing all other South Carolina regions.
The Upstate’s 7-day average of cases is nearly 1,100, almost three times what it was early last month and twice what it was in July when cases statewide were spiking, according to DHEC.
Greenville County, the state’s most populous county, has reported nearly twice as many cases as any other county in South Carolina over the past month.
In the Upstate Tuesday, Greenville again led all counties with 291 COVID-19 cases, followed by Spartanburg County (242, second in the state); and Anderson County (93, eighth 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 York (142), Lexington (121), and Richland (97) counties reporting the third, sixth and seventh highest number of positive tests in the state Tuesday.
The number of positive tests in the state’s Pee Dee region is well below the Upstate and the Midlands, but has risen significantly in the past month.
Horry (125) and Florence (124) reported the most cases in the PeeDee Tuesday.
The Lowcountry has the fewest new COVID-19 cases of any region in the state. Cases in the Lowcountry spiked in early December, but have leveled off over the past two-and-a-half weeks.
Beaufort (77) and Charleston (72) reported the highest case numbers in the Lowcountry Tuesday.
Of the 15 deaths reported for the day, 11 were elderly individuals (65 and older) and four were middle-aged people (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 Tuesday included two residents each from Charleston, Florence and Lancaster counties; and a single resident each from Dillon, Horry, Jasper, Laurens, Orangeburg, Pickens, Sumter, Union and Williamsburg counties.
How are schools and long-term care facilities affected?
Nearly 1,000 COVID-19 cases in the past week are associated with schools, according to DHEC.
State health officials, who report school-related cases twice weekly, documented 771 cases among students and 219 cases among staff this past week.
The numbers include kindergarten through 12th grade students and staff in both public and private schools, and count only individuals who attend school in person or are on campus on a regular basis.
Included in the count are positive COVID-19 results obtained from a rapid schools testing initiative the governor announced last month that some districts are in the process of implementing, DHEC said.
A total of 6,651 school-related cases have been reported since Sept. 4, according to DHEC.
An additional 579 COVID-19 cases and 27 coronavirus deaths in the last week are associated with long-term care facilities, according to DHEC data.
In South Carolina, long-term care facility residents account for about 3% of the state’s COVID-19 cases, but more than 35% of its virus deaths.
This past week, long-term care facility residents accounted for 335 cases and 25 deaths.
The other 244 cases and two deaths reported at long-term care facilities affected staff members, according to DHEC.
As of Tuesday, 179 of South Carolina’s long-term care facilities, or about 26%, were reporting an active outbreak, which DHEC defines as at least one resident or staff member case within the past 14 days.
Six facilities statewide have reported at least 45 combined resident and staff cases in the past 30 days, according to DHEC.
They are White Oak of Rock Hill in York County (110 cases, seven deaths); Prince George Healthcare Center in Georgetown County (103 cases, one death); Brightwater Skilled Nursing Center in Horry County (77 cases, four deaths); White Oak Manor in Lancaster County (50 cases, three deaths); Lodge at Wellmore in York County (46 cases, two deaths) and Place at Pepper Hill in Aiken County (46 cases, three deaths).
Since March, South Carolina has reported 13,577 cases and 1,642 deaths associated with long-term care facilities. Residents have accounted for nearly two-thirds of the cumulative cases and all but 28 of the deaths, according to DHEC.
How is COVID-19 trending in SC?
Daily case rates are up nearly 89% in the past month and are currently the highest they’ve ever been, with 46 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 three weeks reported, are 43% higher Tuesday 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 30 days, with an average of 217 tests per 100,000 individuals performed daily in the last month, a 37% increase from the month prior, data show.
An average of 19.2% of those tests have come back positive in the past 30 days.
Overall, more than 3.3 million tests have been conducted in South Carolina.
This story was originally published December 22, 2020 at 2:36 PM.