SC has more than 12,000 new COVID cases in a week, DHEC reports
South Carolina had 12,515 new cases of the coronavirus reported by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control from Aug. 2 to Aug. 6, continuing a trend of more cases being diagnosed during the last five weeks.
DHEC reported the same week that 36 people died from the virus.
Hospitalizations from COVID-19 increased from 453 last week to 729 as of Tuesday, which is the day each week that DHEC compiles hospital data. That’s almost a 61% increase.
The State reported that Columbia’s children’s hospital at Prisma Health Richland is at or near capacity every day from coronavirus and related respiratory illnesses.
The percent of positive COVID tests far exceeds the level at which the virus is considered under control. An average of about 18% of tests came back positive in the week, according to DHEC. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say a positivity rate consistently below 5% means the virus spread is slowing in a community.
This makes the fourth week of increasing coronavirus indicators. DHEC warned that the state could experience a spike in coronavirus cases because of a combination of low vaccination rates and the spread of the delta variant.
The State reported that 94% of new COVID-19 cases were diagnosed in unvaccinated people. Unvaccinated people also account for the vast majority of people who are hospitalized with COVID-19 and who die of the disease.
Known cases of the delta variant rose by 77% week over week, according to DHEC. This week, DHEC had 248 confirmed cases of the delta variant, compared to 140 the week before. While diagnosing a person with coronavirus can be done in minutes, figuring out if the virus is the delta variant takes longer. DHEC suspects that most new cases in the state are the delta variant.
Almost 20,000 more people were reported to have completed vaccination as of Wednesday, the last day reported by DHEC. Nearly 1.93 million people are vaccinated in South Carolina. That’s 45% of the state’s residents.
At least 634,310 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in South Carolina and 9,950 have died since March 2020, according to DHEC.
To learn how to book a COVID-19 vaccine appointment, visit The State’s website.