South Carolina surpasses 11,000 COVID-related deaths Thursday, adds 3,500 new cases

South Carolina reported nearly 3,500 more COVID-19 cases and 55 more deaths on Thursday, according to data released by the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.

More than 1,000 people have died of COVID-19 in South Carolina over the last month. The statewide death toll is now 11,051.

DHEC also reported Thursday that 3,466 new cases came in from testing completed two days ago. That brings the state’s COVID-19 case count to nearly 780,000 since the beginning of the pandemic, according to DHEC.

Of the new cases reported on Thursday, 1,268 were listed as “probable” rather than confirmed.

The state conducted 22,550 COVID-19 tests, with 12.9% coming back positive.

At least 49.3% of the new cases reported were people aged 30 and under.

Children 10 and younger made up 14.1% of the new cases on Thursday, while 22.2% of the cases were attributed to people between the ages of 11 and 20.

At the earlier height of the pandemic between December and February, only 5.8% of positive cases were kids 10 and under.

The Palmetto State continues to trend in the wrong direction, as cases are soaring.

Last week, South Carolina saw its second-highest weekly total for new cases with nearly 38,000. The previous week, there were more than 35,000 new cases. The only higher weekly total was in early January, when the state had more than 40,000 cases. The state hasn’t seen fewer than 1,000 new cases on any day since July 24.

The highly contagious delta variant is likely responsible for the majority of new COVID-19 cases in South Carolina, according to state health officials. The exact number of delta cases is unknown because only a fraction of confirmed cases undergo genome sequencing, the process to determine the variant.

At least 130 deaths— less than 1% — of all COVID-related deaths as of Sept. 7 have been from “breakthrough” cases, meaning the person was fully vaccinated. The majority of deaths — 65% — are people ages 71 and up. And about 65% of those who died had comorbid conditions.

Health officials recommend wearing a face mask and getting the coronavirus vaccine to help limit the spread of the virus. South Carolina currently has a 48.9% vaccination rate, one of the lowest in the country.

Andrew Caplan

The State

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Andrew Caplan is a watchdog journalist who hails from Florida. He comes to The State Media Company after winning several statewide awards for investigations on elected officials and government entities. He holds a master’s degree from the University of South Florida.