South Carolina adds nearly 15,000 new COVID-19 cases, 158 deaths over three days

South Carolina reported three days worth of COVID-19 data on Monday, with 14,763 COVID-19 more cases and 158 additional deaths.

That brings the state’s COVID-19 case count to more than 802,000 since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the state Department of Health and Environmental Control. The death toll is 11,349.

More than 1,250 people have died of COVID-19 in South Carolina during the last month.

The state added 5,356 cases and 69 deaths for Saturday; 5,564 cases and 38 deaths on Sunday; and 3,843 cases and 51 deaths on Monday.

Nearly 49% of the new cases reported over the past three days were people age 30 and younger.

Children 10 and younger made up 13.2% of the new cases reported for the three days, while 22.1% of the cases were diagnosed in 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’s vaccination rate is 49.6%, one of the lowest in the country.

This story was originally published September 13, 2021 at 4:25 PM.

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.