SC reports fewest COVID-19 cases in 3 months, 16 deaths Tuesday
For the first time in three months, South Carolina has reported fewer than 1,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases.
State health officials Tuesday announced 868 new confirmed cases and 16 virus deaths.
The last time the daily number of confirmed cases fell below 1,000 was Nov. 16, when 981 cases were reported. Tuesday’s confirmed COVID-19 case count is the lowest since 586 cases were reported Nov. 9, according to the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.
Nearly 6% of the 21,315 tests reported Tuesday came back positive, DHEC said.
DHEC calculates the positivity rate by taking the total number of positive viral tests and dividing it by the total number of tests taken. The number of cases is lower than the number of positive tests because some people take multiple tests.
COVID-19 hospitalizations, which have declined markedly since reaching record highs in mid-January, climbed slightly Tuesday to 1,230, but remain more than 50% lower than their peak of 2,466 a month ago.
Since March of last year, the state has reported 428,684 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 7,196 deaths from the virus.
South Carolina counts an additional 61,769 cases, including 45 Tuesday, as probable positives, and another 859 deaths, including six Tuesday, 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 has reported a cumulative total of 490,453 probable and confirmed COVID-19 cases and 8,055 probable and confirmed deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.
Vaccines distributed
As of Tuesday, South Carolina had received 532,550 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine and 438,200 doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine.
The agency reported Tuesday that 359,627 first doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 146,375 first doses of the Moderna vaccine had been administered so far. Another 121,517 second doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 41,014 second doses of the Moderna vaccine also have been administered.
Administrations of the Moderna vaccine currently lag behind Pfizer administrations because until recently Moderna shots had been used exclusively to vaccinate long-term care facility residents and staff as part of a federal pharmacy partnership. In recent weeks, the Moderna vaccine, which does not have the same ultra-cold storage requirements as the Pfizer vaccine, has been shipped to pharmacies, federally qualified health centers and other providers, and its uptake is expected to increase.
Health care workers, long-term care facility residents and staff, and all people age 65 and older are currently eligible to receive vaccinations.
In addition to the 668,000 first and second vaccine doses that have been administered, South Carolinians have scheduled another 461,000 vaccination appointments, 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. For those who lack internet access, DHEC has launched a phone line — 866-365-8110 — where operators are available every day from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. to help people searching for information about vaccine providers.
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?
After 14 straight days of declines in the number of COVID-19 inpatients statewide, coronavirus hospitalizations ticked up slightly Tuesday to 1,230. COVID-19 patients currently account for about 14% of all hospital inpatients.
Of those hospitalized with COVID-19, 303 are in intensive care units, and 167 are on ventilators, according to DHEC.
Total hospital bed occupancy was down to 76% Tuesday, while ICU bed occupancy was nearly at 74%, data show.
In Richland County, 70% of hospital beds were occupied Tuesday, and in Lexington County, 79% of beds are full, data show.
Which counties were affected?
COVID-19 cases have fallen in all regions over the past month, but remain highest in the Upstate.
The Upstate’s seven-day average of new cases is nearly 700, the lowest it’s been since late 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 three months.
In the Upstate Tuesday, Greenville again led all counties with 118 COVID-19 cases, followed by Spartanburg County with 67 cases and Anderson County with 40 cases, according to DHEC.
COVID-19 cases in the Midlands are slightly below the Upstate’s numbers, with a seven-day average of 613 new cases, according to DHEC. York led all Midlands counties Tuesday with 48 cases, followed by Lexington with 46 and Richland with 45.
The number of positive tests in the state’s Pee Dee and Lowcountry regions are below the Upstate and the Midlands, and have returned to pre-holiday season levels.
Horry County’s 74 confirmed COVID-19 cases were most in the PeeDee Tuesday, while Charleston County’s 59 cases were most in the Lowcountry.
Of the 16 confirmed deaths reported Tuesday, all were elderly individuals (65 and older). according to DHEC.
South Carolinians from infancy 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 76, and the vast majority of those who died — 88% — were over 60, data show.
The deaths reported Tuesday included four York County residents; two Chester County residents; and a single resident each from Beaufort, Charleston, Clarendon, Dorchester, Greenwood, Horry, Lee, Lexington, Spartanburg and Union counties.
How are schools and long-term care facilities affected?
Nearly 1,200 COVID-19 cases in the past week are associated with schools.
State health officials, who report school-related cases twice weekly, documented 947 cases among students and 237 cases among staff between Feb. 8 and Feb. 15.
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 have implemented are included in the counts.
A total of 12,126 school-related COVID-19 cases have been reported since Sept. 4, DHEC said.
Another 975 COVID-19 cases and 67 coronavirus deaths in the last two weeks are associated with long-term care facilities, data show.
Facility residents account for 596 of the cases and all but one of the deaths, with the remaining 379 cases and a single death affecting staff members.
As of Tuesday, 194 long-term care facilities in the state, or about 39%, were reporting an active COVID-19 outbreak, which DHEC defines as one or more coronavirus cases among residents of staff in the last 14 days.
In South Carolina, long-term care facility residents account for just over 4% of the state’s roughly 430,000 COVID-19 cases, but about 26% of its virus deaths, data show.
Since March, South Carolina has reported 18,320 cases and 1,857 deaths associated with long-term care facilities. Residents have accounted for nearly two-thirds of the cumulative cases and all but 29 of the deaths, according to DHEC.
How is COVID-19 trending in SC?
Daily case rates have dropped significantly in recent weeks, down more than 30% from the month prior, with 58 people per 100,000 testing positive for the novel coronavirus over the past 30 days, according to DHEC.
Coronavirus deaths, which lag behind cases, reached a record weekly high in late January and remain elevated, according to DHEC. The agency has reported 1,844 virus deaths, or about 23% of the state’s cumulative death total, in the last 30 days.
COVID-19 hospitalizations have dropped dramatically after reaching record highs last month. The number of coronavirus inpatients reported Tuesday is about 32% less than the average reported daily over the past month, according to DHEC.
The number of COVID-19 patients in ICUs Tuesday was about 25% lower than the 30-day average, and the number of coronavirus patients on ventilators was 34% lower than the average over the past month.
The number of people being tested across the state has risen nearly 15% in the past month. An average of 633 tests per 100,000 individuals have been performed daily over the last 30 days, 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 8.8% and the 30-day positivity rate is 10.5%.
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.
Nearly 12% 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 above the WHO’s guidelines for reopening.
This story was originally published February 16, 2021 at 2:20 PM.