SC has almost 15,000 new coronavirus cases in a week, DHEC reports
Coronavirus isn’t slowing in South Carolina.
The state had 14,864 new cases of the coronavirus reported by the Department of Health and Environmental Control from Aug. 9 to 13.
That’s about 2,973 new COVID-19 cases reported a day. DHEC reported 67 deaths from the virus in the same week.
At least 1,116 people were hospitalized on Tuesday, the last day reported by DHEC.
That’s more new cases, more deaths and more people hospitalized from the coronavirus week over week.
The percent of positive COVID tests is beyond the point considered under control. An average of about 14.5% of tests came back positive in the week, according to DHEC. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say a positive rate consistently below 5% means the virus spread is slowing in a community.
The State reported that 94% of new COVID-19 cases were in unvaccinated people. Unvaccinated people also are the vast majority who are hospitalized with COVID-19 and who die of the disease.
Known cases of the delta variant rose by 54% week over week, according to DHEC. This week, DHEC had 382 confirmed cases of the delta variant, compared to 248 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 1.95 million people are vaccinated in South Carolina. That’s about 46% of the state’s residents.
At least 656,313 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in South Carolina and 10,039 have died since March 2020, according to DHEC.
To learn how to book a COVID-19 vaccine appointment, visit The State’s website.