SC reports 2,736 new COVID-19 cases, 5 deaths Monday
South Carolina health officials reported fewer than 3,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases Monday for the first time in six days.
The state Department of Health and Environmental Control Monday announced 2,736 confirmed COVID-19 cases and five deaths from the virus.
More than 25% of the 10,798 tests reported Monday came back positive, according to DHEC.
It’s the 10th consecutive day the state’s percent positivity rate has exceeded 22%.
COVID-19 hospitalizations, which reached record highs multiple times in the past few weeks, remain elevated at 2,201 Monday, but are down from their peak of 2,466 on Jan. 13. Coronavirus patients take up more than 24% of all occupied S.C. hospital beds, data show.
Since last March, the state has reported 379,775 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 5,920 coronavirus deaths.
South Carolina counts an additional 41,642 cases, including 44 Monday, as probable positives, and another 632 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.
Vaccines distributed
As of Monday, South Carolina had received 274,950 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine and 267,800 doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine.
The agency reported Monday that 182,589 first doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 52,523 first doses of the Moderna vaccine had been administered so far. Another 41,493 second doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 753 second doses of the Moderna vaccine also have 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 Jan. 13, all South Carolinians age 70 and older are now also able to schedule vaccination appointments.
In addition to the more than 277,000 first and second vaccine doses that have been administered, 313,508 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 near you 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 up slightly Monday to 2,201, but remain about 11% lower than they were at their peak 12 days ago.
Of those hospitalized with COVID-19, 429 are in intensive care units, and 262 are on ventilators, according to DHEC.
Total hospital bed occupancy, which has hovered around 80% for weeks, was at 80% Monday, while ICU bed occupancy was down to 77%, data show.
In Richland County, 74% of hospital beds were occupied Monday, and in Lexington County, 90% 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 daily cases is about 1,300, higher than it was two months ago, but the lowest it’s been in the new year, 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. Among South Carolina counties, Greenville County is second only to Pickens County in its per capita rate of COVID-19 infection over the last two months.
Greenville led all counties in the Upstate Monday with 406 confirmed cases, followed by Spartanburg County with 179 cases and Anderson County with 95 cases, according to DHEC.
COVID-19 cases in the Midlands are elevated, but remain below the Upstate’s numbers, with a seven-day average of about 970 daily cases. Richland led all Midlands counties Monday with 179 cases, followed by York with 153, Aiken with 137 cases and Lexington with 134 cases.
The number of positive tests in the state’s Pee Dee and Lowcountry regions are well below the Upstate and the Midlands but still above where they were late last year.
Horry (154) and Florence (106) counties reported the most cases in the PeeDee Monday, while Charleston’s 150 cases were most in the Lowcountry.
Of the five deaths reported Monday, all were elderly (65 and older) residents, according to DHEC.
South Carolinians as young as infants and as old as 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 a single resident each from Beaufort, Calhoun, Georgetown, Orangeburg and York counties.
How are long-term care facilities affected?
State health officials, who report COVID-19 cases at long-term care facilities twice weekly on Tuesdays and Fridays, documented 800 cases and 24 deaths among residents and staff in the past week, according to data released Friday.
Facility residents account for 488 of the cases and all of the deaths, with the remaining 312 cases affecting staff members.
As of Friday, 234 of South Carolina’s long-term care facilities, or about half, 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 40 combined resident and staff cases in the past 30 days, according to DHEC.
They are Thad E. Saleeby Development Center, an intermediate care facility for people with intellectual disabilities in Darlington County (51 cases); Woodruff Manor, a skilled nursing facility in Spartanburg County (47 cases, two deaths); New Hope Carolinas, a psychiatric treatment center for children in York County (46 cases); NHC Healthcare’s skilled nursing facility in Laurens County (46 cases, one death); C.M Tucker Jr. Nursing Care Center — Roddey Pavilion in Richland County (43 cases, two deaths); and Jenni-Lynn Assisted Living Community in Lexington County (40 cases, five deaths).
Since last March, more than 16,000 cases and 1,735 deaths, or about 30% of the state’s coronavirus deaths, have been associated with long-term care facilities in South Carolina.
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 up 52% in the past month compared to the month prior, with 82 people per 100,000 testing positive for the novel coronavirus over the past 30 days, according to DHEC.
The state has reported at least 4,000 daily confirmed cases 10 times this month and at least 3,000 cases on all but five days in January.
Before December, South Carolina had only reported 2,000 confirmed daily COVID-19 cases three times and never on consecutive days.
Coronavirus deaths also have risen in recent weeks, reaching a weekly record high of 336 confirmed and probable deaths in the week that ended Jan. 9, according to DHEC. The agency has reported nearly 1,420 virus deaths, or about 22% of the state’s cumulative death total, in just the last 30 days.
COVID-19 hospitalizations are beginning to drop from their record highs of a couple weeks ago. The number of coronavirus inpatients reported Monday is slightly less than the average reported daily over the past month, according to DHEC.
The number of COVID-19 patients in ICUs Monday was about 3% lower than the 30-day average, and the number of coronavirus patients on ventilators was 6% higher than the average over the past month.
The number of people being tested across the state continues to rise. An average of 255 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 25.3% and the 30-day positivity rate is 27.8%.
Elevated percent positive rates indicate more people are likely 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.
More than 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, nearly 4.7 million tests have been conducted in South Carolina.
This story was originally published January 25, 2021 at 2:21 PM with the headline "SC reports 2,736 new COVID-19 cases, 5 deaths Monday."