Young adult in Richland County among 56 new COVID-19 deaths reported in SC
A young adult in Richland County was among the 56 people who recently died of COVID-19, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control said Sunday.
Further information on the person, who was between 18 and 34 years old, was not made available by DHEC.
Health officials also confirmed 1,389 new positive tests in the Palmetto State.
Since testing began last March, 436,161 cases of the coronavirus and 7,409 deaths have been reported in South Carolina.
Sunday’s data is based on 36,030 tests, and the percentage of tests coming back positive was 6.2%, according to DHEC. Sunday’s ratio is significantly lower then the Jan. 7 percent positive of 34.2%, which is the record for highest in a single day, but that is partially because of a change DHEC made in the way the percent positive is calculated.
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.
The single-day record of 226 deaths was reported on Jan. 28.
The most new cases in a single day were the 6,824 positive tests from Jan. 8. No other single-day report has surpassed 5,000 new positive tests.
Since Dec. 27, there have been 10 days with more than 4,000 new cases of coronavirus confirmed in a single day, the data show. Prior to the surge in December and January, the previous single-day record was 2,343 cases confirmed on July 18.
Sunday marked the 95th day out of the past 97 that more than 1,000 positive tests were confirmed in South Carolina, dating back to Nov. 16 when DHEC reported 981 new cases. On Tuesday and Wednesday last week 868 and 655 new cases were confirmed, respectively.
Health officials reported more than 3,000 daily cases 27 times, and 61 of the past 81 days have seen more than 2,000 positive tests confirmed, the data show.
Vaccine distribution
Health officials said Sunday that South Carolina had received 1,100,750 total doses of COVID-19 vaccines, and that 760,271 of those doses had been administered.
The majority of the doses received, or 594,950, are Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines that have gone to front-line health care workers and community first responders. Of those vaccinations administered, 380,751 have been first doses, while 149,592 more are second doses, according to DHEC.
The other 302,400 are Moderna vaccines that, until recently, had been reserved for long-term care facility residents and staff. To date, 124,181 first doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine have been administered, and another 23,076 second doses have been given, data show.
Another 486,486 people have made appointments for vaccinations.
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 without internet access, DHEC recently 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 and recommends routine monthly testing for anyone who is out and about, even if they are asymptomatic.
To find a testing location near you, visit DHEC’s website at scdhec.gov/covid19/covid-19-testing-locations.
Overall, 5,724,173 tests have been conducted in South Carolina.
Which counties were affected?
Even as COVID-19 cases decline in all regions of the state, the Upstate continues to outpace all other South Carolina regions in its daily number of coronavirus cases.
Greenville County, the state’s most populous county, reported 197 new cases Sunday, and nearby Spartanburg County had 111 more, with an additional 41 in neighboring Anderson County, according to DHEC.
COVID-19 cases in the Midlands are also elevated, and Richland County reported 127 new cases, second most in South Carolina, and Lexington County reported 88 more positive tests.
That brings the number of confirmed cases in Richland County to 35,169, and in Lexington County to 23,709.
COVID-19 has taken the greatest toll on South Carolina’s 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, the data shows.
Of the deaths reported Sunday, 49 were elderly (65 and older) and six were middle-aged (35-64) people, health officials said.
In addition to the young adult, five elderly individuals in Richland County and four in Lexington County suffered coronavirus-related deaths, data show.
Overall, 443 coronavirus-related deaths have been reported in Richland County, while the death toll increased to 391 in Lexington County, according to DHEC.
How are hospitals being impacted?
The number of people hospitalized statewide for COVID-19 Sunday was 1,013, the fifth day in a row the total decreased.
It was the 24th consecutive day of fewer than 2,000 people with COVID-19 being cared for in a South Carolina hospital, following 30 days in a row in which 2,000-plus coronavirus patients were hospitalized, according to health officials.
Sunday’s hospitalizations marked the lowest point in more than two months and about 55% lower than their peak of 2,466 just over a month ago.
Coronavirus patients made up 11.4% of all reported inpatients in South Carolina on Sunday, data show.
Nearly 23.7% of COVID-19 patients, or 240 people, are in intensive care units, and 14.2%, or 144 patients, are on ventilators.
Of the 13,464 hospital beds available in South Carolina, 8,841 inpatient beds are currently occupied, health officials said. There are currently 1,300 of 1,728 ICU beds occupied, or 75.2%, according to DHEC.
In Richland County, 826 hospital beds are occupied (75.4%), while 445 of 541 hospital beds in Lexington County (82.3%) are occupied, according to DHEC.
Are all cases accounted for?
Across the country, health experts said official case counts have likely under-counted the number of coronavirus cases to large degrees. At one point, South Carolina officials estimated that 86% of those infected never got tested or diagnosed, but they no longer provide those estimates.
DHEC also has been recording probable cases and probable deaths. A probable case is someone who has not received a lab test result but has virus symptoms or a positive antibody test. A probable death is someone who has not gotten a lab test but whose death certificate lists COVID-19 as a cause of death or a contributing factor.
On Sunday, DHEC reported 343 new probable COVID-19 cases in the state and 11 new probable deaths. That puts the total number of probable cases at 67,988 and total probable deaths at 915.
This story was originally published February 21, 2021 at 11:26 AM.
