SC retroactively reports record day of nearly 7,000 COVID cases as DHEC corrects error
South Carolina has had more coronavirus cases this month than originally reported, including one day with a record 6,824 cases, the Department of Health and Environmental Control reported Saturday.
The cases reported Saturday reflect data corrections for six days this month. The department previously reported that an “internal systems error” affecting one of DHEC’s vendors had resulted in incomplete case counts Jan. 8 to 13, The State reported.
With the corrected data, four of the six days this month now have higher cases than originally reported. On some days, the difference is an increase of thousands of new COVID-19 cases.
These are the corrected cases, DHEC said Saturday:
- Jan. 8: 6,824 new cases (originally reported 3,747)
- Jan. 9: 4,037 new cases (originally reported 2,679)
- Jan. 10: 3,318 new cases (originally reported 1,383)
- Jan. 11: 4,037 new cases (originally reported 4,769)
- Jan. 12: 3,668 new cases (originally reported 4,945)
- Jan. 13: 2,575 new cases (originally reported 1,932)
The number of new cases on Jan. 8 was a record for South Carolina.
DHEC typically reports the new case counts 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.
Since last March, South Carolina has reported 346,880 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 5,577 coronavirus deaths.
In a news release, DHEC said the department did not cause the software problem and that the vendor had corrected the issue as of Saturday morning.
The corrected data only affects coronavirus case counts, not deaths or other metrics, DHEC said.
“This software issue did not lose any data and was not in any way a security breach,” according to a release.
Probable cases, vaccines distributed
South Carolina counts another 35,542 cases, including 121 Saturday, as probable positives, and another 531 deaths, including eight Saturday, 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.
Of the 20,694 tests reported Saturday, 22,6% came back positive, according to DHEC.
COVID-19 hospitalizations, which have hit record highs multiple times in the past two weeks, dropped to 2,387 between Friday and Saturday, though that remains high. Coronavirus patients continue to take up more than 25% of all occupied South Carolina hospital beds, data show.
As of Saturday, South Carolina had received 195,200 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine and 117,900 doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine.
The agency reported Saturday that 102,598 first doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 24,633 doses of the Moderna vaccine had been administered so far.
The number of people vaccinated continues to increase by hundreds or thousands daily.
Another 27,764 second doses of the Pfizer vaccine have also been administered.
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.
In addition to the 154,995 first and second vaccine doses that have been administered, another nearly 181,984 people have schedule appointments to receive a shot, DHEC said.
Anyone eligible to receive a vaccine who would like to get one can use DHEC’s locator tool to find a provider with availability at www.scdhec.gov/vaxlocator.
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 were at 2,387 Saturday, the first time in four days it dropped below 2,400.
Of those hospitalized with COVID-19, 474 are in intensive care units, and 291 are on ventilators, according to DHEC. More than 25% of all South Carolina inpatients are currently being treated for COVID-19.
Total hospital bed occupancy, which has hovered around 80% for weeks, ticked down slightly to 83% Saturday, while ICU bed occupancy was at more than 82%, data show.
In Richland County, 78% of hospital beds were occupied Saturday, and in Lexington County, 89% of beds are full, data show.
Which counties were affected?
Cases of the coronavirus continue to surge in the Upstate, surpassing all other regions.
The Upstate’s seven-day average of new cases is more than 1,530, nearly 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 Saturday, Greenville again led all counties with 653 COVID-19 cases, followed by Anderson County (214), Spartanburg County (218) — another one of the country’s foremost coronavirus hotspots — and Pickens County (190), according to DHEC.
COVID-19 cases in the Midlands are below the Upstate’s numbers but also have surged since late November. The new cases hit records highs Saturday in Richland County (517), Lexington County (321) and York County (299).
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 County (246) reported the most cases in the PeeDee Saturday, while Charleston County’s 200 cases were most in the Lowcountry.
Of the 64 deaths reported Friday, 52 were elderly (65 and older), 12 were middle-aged (35-64).
South Carolinians from infants to age 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 Saturday were of residents in the following counties: Anderson (2), Barnwell (1), Beaufort (1), Berkeley (1), Charleston (2), Cherokee (1), Chesterfield (1), Darlington (1), Fairfield (1), Florence (3), Georgetown (3), Greenville (11), Greenwood (1), Horry (4), Jasper (1), Laurens (4), Lexington (2), Marion (1), Marlboro (1), Newberry (2), Orangeburg (1), Richland (7), Spartanburg (8), Sumter (2), Williamsburg (1), York (1).
How are schools and long-term care facilities affected?
More than 350 COVID-19 cases in the past week are associated with schools, DHEC reported Saturday.
State health officials, who report school-related cases twice weekly, documented 259 cases among students and 94 cases among staff since last 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.
Results from a rapid schools testing initiative that some districts are implementing are included in the counts.
A total of 7,823 school-related cases have been reported since Sept. 4, DHEC said.
Another 725 COVID-19 cases and 32 coronavirus deaths in the last week are associated with long-term care facilities, data show.
Facility residents account for 431 of the cases and all of the deaths, with the remaining 294 cases affecting staff members.
Since last March, South Carolina has reported more than 15,000 cases and 1,711 deaths associated with long-term care facilities, or about 30% of the state’s coronavirus deaths.
Residents have accounted for more than 60% 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 easily the highest they’ve ever been, up nearly 75% in the last month, with 73.6 people per 100,000 testing positive for the novel coronavirus over the past 30 days.
The state has reported at least 4,000 daily confirmed cases nine times in the past three weeks and at least 3,000 cases on 18 separate days since the beginning of December.
Before December, South Carolina had only reported 2,000 confirmed daily COVID-19 cases three times and never on consecutive days.
COVID-19 hospitalizations are also experiencing record highs, with the number of coronavirus patients reported Saturday nearly 25% higher than the average over the past month, according to DHEC.
The number of COVID-19 patients in ICUs Saturday was 20% higher than the 30-day average, and the number of coronavirus patients on ventilators was 47% higher than the average over the past month.
The number of people being tested across the state is also rising. An average of 237 tests per 100,000 individuals have been performed daily over the last 30 days, a 12% increase from the month prior, data show.
The state’s seven-day COVID-19 positivity rate, which provides an idea of how widespread infection is in a testing area, is 29.5% and the 30-day positivity rate is 27.2%.
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.
Overall, more than 4.2 million tests have been conducted in South Carolina.
This story was originally published January 16, 2021 at 2:35 PM.