SC reports nearly 3,500 COVID-19 cases, highest-ever percent positive rate
A full third of the latest batch of COVID-19 tests given to South Carolinians came back positive for the virus, the highest rate ever reported, health officials said Monday.
The state Department of Health and Environmental Control on Monday reported 3,492 confirmed COVID-19 cases from the 10,481 tests administered, a 33.3% positivity rate.
The state Department of Health and Environmental Control has now reported more than 3,000 cases 11 times in the past month and at least 2,000 daily cases in 29 of the last 31 days.
Prior to last month’s spike in cases, South Carolina had reported 2,000 or more daily cases only three times and its single-day record was 2,343 confirmed cases on July 18.
Since March, the state has reported 299,685 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 5,056 coronavirus deaths, including another 15 Monday.
Many others remain hospitalized.
COVID-19 hospitalizations, which have risen sharply in recent weeks, reached another record-high Monday with 2,155 inpatients being treated for the virus, according to DHEC.
South Carolina counts another 25,787 cases, including 18 Monday, as probable positives, and another 428 deaths, including one Monday, 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.
The number of people being tested and the percentage of those who test positive for COVID-19 have surged in the past month.
The 33.3% positivity rate reported Monday marks the fourth time in the past five days that the positivity rate has exceeded 30%.
The state’s seven-day COVID-19 positivity rate, which provides an idea of how widespread infection is in a testing area, is the highest its ever been.
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 last year advised governments not to reopen until percent positive rates were at 5% or lower for at least 14 days.
Roughly 16% 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.
As of Monday, South Carolina had received more than 129,675 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine and 84,500 doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, according to DHEC.
The agency reported that 43,277, or 33%, of Pfizer doses have been administered so far. DHEC has not released information about the administration of Moderna doses, which have been reserved for long-term care facility residents and staff as part of a federal program.
Front line medical workers, residents of long-term care facilities and 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 while supplies are limited 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.
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?
DHEC reported a record 2,125 people hospitalized with COVID-19 Monday, the fourth time in the past five days that COVID-19 hospitalizations have exceeded 2,000.
The number of patients hospitalized with the coronavirus in each of the past 10 days has easily exceeded hospitalization highs set over the summer, data show.
Of those hospitalized with COVID-19 Monday, 419 are in intensive care units and 215 are on ventilators.
Total hospital bed occupancy and ICU bed occupancy have remained around 80% as the number of COVID-19 patients has increased, with 78.5% of the state’s hospital beds and 79% of its ICU beds occupied Monday
In Richland County, 70% of hospital beds are occupied Tuesday, and in Lexington County, 86% of beds are full, data show.
Which counties were affected?
COVID-19 cases in the Upstate are skyrocketing, outpacing all other South Carolina regions.
The Upstate’s 7-day average of cases is more than 1,400, more than three times what it was in early November, according to DHEC.
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 month.
In the Upstate Monday, Greenville again led all counties with 555 COVID-19 cases, followed by Spartanburg County (370, second in the state) and Pickens County (159, 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 (289), Lexington (220), and York (129) counties reporting the third, fourth and ninth highest number of positive tests in the state Monday.
The number of positive tests in the state’s Pee Dee and Lowcountry regions are well below the Upstate and the Midlands, but have risen significantly in the past month.
Horry (208) and Florence (208) reported the most cases in the PeeDee Monday, while Charleston’s 140 cases were the most in the Lowcountry.
Of the 15 deaths reported for the day, 11 were elderly individuals (65 and older), three were middle-aged (35-64) and one was a young adult (18-34) from Barnwell County, according to DHEC.
South Carolinians from age 0 to 106 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 Monday included three residents each from Lexington and Beaufort counties; two residents each from Greenville and Lancaster counties; and a single resident each from Aiken, Barnwell, Chesterfield, Orangeburg and Spartanburg counties.
How is COVID-19 trending in SC?
Daily case rates have risen nearly 95% in the past month and are currently the highest they’ve ever been, with 61 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 more than a month, are 41% higher Monday than they’ve been on average over the past month, according to DHEC.
The number of people being tested across the state also continues to increase, with an average of 233 tests per 100,000 individuals performed daily in the last month, a 27% increase from the month prior, data show.
An average of 23.8% of those tests have come back positive in the past 30 days.
Overall, nearly 3.8 million COVID-19 tests have been administered in South Carolina.
This story was originally published January 4, 2021 at 1:52 PM.