SC reports more than 4,800 COVID-19 cases, 18 deaths Thursday
For the second consecutive day, South Carolina health officials reported more than 4,600 confirmed COVID-19 cases.
The state Department of Health and Environmental Control on Thursday announced 4,809 new cases and 18 confirmed deaths from the virus. Thursday’s case count is the second highest single-day case total ever reported in the state, behind only the 4,986 confirmed cases announced last Friday.
Of the 18,115 tests reported Thursday, 26.5% came back positive, according to DHEC.
COVID-19 hospitalizations were down slightly to 2,427 Thursday, but coronavirus patients continue to take up more than 25% of all occupied South Carolina hospital beds, data show.
The state has now has reported at least 4,000 daily confirmed cases eight times in the past three weeks and at least 3,000 daily cases on 19 separate days since the beginning of December.
Since last March, the state has reported 337,845 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 5,420 coronavirus deaths.
South Carolina counts another 33,335 cases, including 136 Thursday, as probable positives, and another 514 deaths, including five Thursday, 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 state’s seven-day COVID-19 positivity rate, which provides an idea of how widespread infection is in a testing area, is 28.9%.
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 17% of all COVID-19 tests administered in South Carolina since last March have come back positive, according to DHEC. The state’s seven-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 Thursday, South Carolina had received 195,200 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine and 117,900 doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, which is currently being reserved for residents and staff of long-term care facilities.
The agency reported Thursday that 81,015 first doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 20,272 doses of the Moderna vaccine had been administered so far. Another 20,532 second doses of the Pfizer vaccine have also been administered.
As of Thursday, South Carolina’s utilization rate of the Pfizer vaccine was 52%, according to DHEC.
Health care workers, long-term care facility residents and staff, and hospital inpatients over 65 are currently eligible to receive the vaccine. As of Wednesday, all South Carolinians age 70 and older are now also able to schedule vaccination appointments, although doing so has been a frustrating exercise for many residents.
State health officials advise South Carolinians to continue taking measures to mitigate spread of COVID-19 as the vaccination rollout progresses in the months ahead.
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 declined to 2,427 Thursday, from their record high of 2,466 set the day before. Coronavirus hospitalizations have now exceeded 2,300 for 10 straight days.
Of those hospitalized with COVID-19, 465 are in intensive care units, and a record 290 are on ventilators, according to DHEC.
Total hospital bed occupancy, which has hovered around 80% for weeks, jumped to 84% Thursday, while ICU bed occupancy was just over 82%, data show.
In Richland County, 77% of hospital beds were occupied Thursday, and in Lexington County, 91.5% of beds are full, data show.
Which counties were affected?
COVID-19 cases in the Upstate continue to outpace all other South Carolina regions.
The Upstate’s seven-day average of new cases is more than 1,630, more than four 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 two months and was recently ranked among the nation’s top COVID-19 hotspots.
In the Upstate Thursday, Greenville again led all counties with 794 COVID-19 cases, followed by Spartanburg County (422) — another one of the country’s foremost coronavirus hotspots — Anderson County (190) and Pickens County (165), according to DHEC.
COVID-19 cases in the Midlands are below the Upstate’s numbers but also have surged since late November. Richland led all Midlands counties Thursday with 425 cases, followed by Lexington with 299 and York with 213 confirmed cases.
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 six weeks.
Horry (281), Florence (196) reported the most cases in the PeeDee Thursday, while Charleston’s 191 cases were most in the Lowcountry, followed by Beaufort’s 165 confirmed cases.
Of the 18 deaths reported Thursday, 14 were elderly (65 and older), three were middle-aged (35-64) and one was a young adult (18-34) from Anderson 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 Thursday included three Spartanburg County residents; two residents each from Anderson and Greenville counties; and a single resident each from Aiken, Charleston, Cherokee, Chesterfield, Florence, Greenwood, Lexington, Oconee, Orangeburg, Richland and York counties.
How is COVID-19 trending in SC?
Daily case rates are the highest they’ve ever been, up nearly 77% in the last month, with 72.5 people per 100,000 testing positive for the novel coronavirus over the past 30 days. That’s more than three times higher than South Carolina’s average daily case rate since the beginning of the pandemic.
COVID-19 hospitalizations are also at record highs, with Thursday’s numbers nearly 28% higher than they’ve been on average over the past month and 41% higher than their summer peak, according to DHEC.
The number of people being tested across the state is also rising. An average of 236 tests per 100,000 individuals have been performed daily over the last 30 days, about twice as many as have been tested daily on average since the beginning of the pandemic, data shows.
An average of 27% of those tests have come back positive in the past 30 days, far higher than the state’s cumulative 16.8% positivity average.
Overall, more than 4.1 million tests have been conducted in South Carolina.
This story was originally published January 14, 2021 at 3:39 PM.