Coronavirus live updates: Here’s what to know in South Carolina on Jan. 16

We’re tracking the most up-to-date information about the coronavirus in South Carolina. Check back for updates.

New case count record shatters old

At least 346,880 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in South Carolina since March, and 5,577 have died, according to state health officials.

A new record of 6,824 new daily cases was set on Jan. 8 but was not reported accurately by health officials because of a technical error, according to the Department of Health and Environmental Control.

On Saturday, DHEC corrected the cases that were reported between Jan. 8 and 13 as such:

• Jan. 8 reported 3747 new cases amended to 6824 new cases
• Jan. 9 reported 2679 new cases amended to 4037 new cases
• Jan. 10 reported 1383 new cases amended to 3318 new cases
• Jan. 11 reported 4769 new cases amended to 4459 new cases
• Jan. 12 reported 4945 new cases amended to 3668 new cases
• Jan. 13 reporteed 1932 new cases amended to 2575 new cases

DHEC typically reports the new case counts to the press two days after they are counted. So The State would report the results of Jan. 8 on Jan. 10.

On Saturday, DHEC reported 4,671 new coronavirus cases, which is now the second highest new case count reported. The agency also said 64 more people died from the disease, which sits only behind a couple days when 70 or more deaths were reported.

Of the 20,694 tests reported Saturday, 22,6% came back positive, according to DHEC.

On Saturday, 2,387 were hospitalized with coronavirus.

State allows more people to administer vaccine

State health officials have expanded the pool of people authorized to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to include medical students, unlicensed medical assistants and retired or inactive nurses, The State reported.

“This order ... proactively puts us in a position to have an increased number of people who can administer vaccine when the vaccine is more widely available to everyone,” DHEC acting director Marshall Taylor said in a statement.

At the time officials announced the order, they could not say how many South Carolina residents fall into the categories now authorized.

SC hospitals will receive ‘significantly less’ vaccine doses than requested

South Carolina hospitals will receive 20% to 25% of the first shot of COVID-19 vaccine doses they requested next week, the Island Packet reported.

The number of first-shot Pfizer vaccine doses delivered to the state will be the same as it has been — 63,000 per week — but hospitals are asking for “four times that amount,” South Carolina Hospital Association president Thornton Kirby announced Friday.

Both Moderna and Pfizer recommend patients receive two separate shots of their vaccines, about three weeks apart.

Hospitals will still receive 100% of the second-shot doses they have requested, Kirby said.

McMaster urges hospitals to cut elective surgeries

Gov. Henry McMaster is calling on the leaders of South Carolina hospitals to reduce non-emergency procedures and divert staff and resources to speeding up COVID-19 vaccination efforts, The State reported.

The move comes as frustrations grow over the pace of South Carolina’s vaccine rollout, and how few people eligible for the vaccine have received it.

At the same time, hospitalizations due to COVID-19 are increasing, further straining hospital staff statewide.

Temporarily reducing elective procedures would free up staff to administer and distribute doses, and “help improve the public’s confidence and participation in our state’s COVID-19 response,” McMaster wrote in a message to Thornton Kirby, head of the South Carolina Hospital Association.

This story was originally published January 16, 2021 at 8:21 AM.