SC schools report more than 100 new COVID-19 cases for 2nd week in a row
South Carolina schools saw a new spike in new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday.
The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control announced there had been 136 new coronavirus cases since Friday, when cases in South Carolina’s K-12 schools were last reported. DHEC updates its school numbers twice a week.
The 1,277 COVID-19 positive tests since school began include 906 student cases and 371 employee cases, according to the DHEC database updated Friday.
On Oct. 6, DHEC announced 132 new COVID-19 cases across the state. Until Tuesday, that had been the largest were the largest jump in case numbers since DHEC began announcing its twice-weekly school district figures on Sept 4. S.C. schools came close to hitting the three-digit mark again on Friday, when DHEC announced 99 new cases.
Tuesday’s jump came a week after some school districts in the Midlands began resuming in-person classes four days a week, including elementary schools in Lexington 1 and Lexington-Richland 5. Other districts that have been online-only, such as Richland 1 and Richland 2, announced last week that students will begin going back to class twice a week later this month.
It’s unclear how many people in K-12 schools have recovered from the virus or how many cases are “active,” metrics the University of South Carolina uses when reporting campus case numbers.
The data apply to all S.C. public, private and charter schools, the majority of which either have no cases or fewer than five cases, according to DHEC data.
The case numbers show how many students and employees who attend or work at a school have tested positive for coronavirus, but that doesn’t mean the infected person contracted COVID-19 from being at the school.
Schools that are still virtual-only may have cases listed in the DHEC database because the infected student employee may have been participating in a school sponsored event, such as sports, when they were potentially contagious.
Here are the case numbers reported in Midlands schools. If a school has less than five cases, DHEC does not specify the exact number.
Lexington 1
- Beechwood Middle: Fewer than 5 student cases and fewer than 5 employee cases
- Carolina Springs Elementary: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Carolina Springs Middle: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Centerville Elementary: Fewer than 5 student cases and fewer than 5 employee cases
- Forts Pond Elementary: Fewer than 5 student cases and fewer than 5 employee cases
- Gilbert Elementary: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Gilbert High: Fewer than 5 student cases and fewer than 5 employee cases
- Gilbert Middle: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Lake Murray Elementary: Fewer than 5 student cases and fewer than 5 employee cases
- Lexington Elementary: Fewer than 5 employee cases
- Lexington High: 9 student cases
- Lexington Midde: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Meadow Glen Elementary: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Meadow Glen Middle: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Midway Elementary: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Pelion Elementary: Fewer than 5 employee cases
- Pelion High: Fewer than 5 student cases and fewer than 5 employee cases
- Pleasant Hill Middle: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Red Bank Elementary: Fewer than 5 student cases
- River Bluff High: 7 student cases and fewer than 5 employee cases
- Rocky Creek Elementary: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Saxe Gotha Elementary: Fewer than 5 student cases
- White Knoll High: Fewer than 5 student cases
Lexington 2
- Airport High: Fewer than 5 student cases and fewer than 5 employee cases
- Brookland-Cayce Senior High: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Cayce Elementary: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Herbert A. Wood Elementary: Fewer than 5 student cases and fewer than 5 employee cases
- Pine Ridge Middle: Fewer than 5 student cases
- R.H. Fulmer Middle: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Saluda River Academy for the Arts: Fewer than 5 student cases
Lexington 3
- Batesburg-Leesville Elementary: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Batesburg-Leesville High: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Batesburg-Leesville Middle: Fewer than 5 student cases and fewer than 5 employee cases
Lexington 4
- Sandhills Elementary: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Sandhills Middle: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Swansea High: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Swansea High School Freshman Academy: Fewer than 5 student cases
Lexington-Richland 5
- Ballentine Elementary: Fewer than 5 employee cases
- Chapin High: Fewer than 5 student cases and fewer than 5 employee cases
- Chapin Intermediate: Fewer than 5 employee cases
- Chapin Middle: Fewer than 5 employee cases
- Dutch Fork Elementary: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Dutch Fork Middle: Fewer than 5 employee cases
- Dutch Fork High: Fewer than 5 employee cases
- Irmo Elementary: Fewer than 5 employee cases
- Irmo High: Fewer than 5 student cases and fewer than 5 employee cases
- Irmo Middle: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Leaphart Elementary: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Seven Oaks Elementary: Fewer than 5 employee cases
- Spring Hill High: Fewer than 5 student cases
Richland 1
- A.C. Flora High: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Columbia High: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Hand Middle: Fewer than 5 employee cases
- Hopkins Elementary: Fewer than 5 employee cases
Richland 2
- Catawba Trail Elementary: Fewer than 5 employee cases
- Forest Lake Elementary: Fewer than 5 employee cases
- L.B. Nelson Elementary: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Muller Road Middle: Fewer than 5 employee cases
- North Springs Elementary: Fewer than 5 employee cases
- Richland Northeast High: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Spring Valley High: Fewer than 5 student cases and fewer than 5 employee cases
- Windsor Elementary: Fewer than 5 faculty cases
Private schools in Richland County
- Ben Lippen: Fewer than 5 student cases and fewer than 5 employee cases
- Cardinal Newman: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Hammond: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Heathwood Hall: Fewer than 5 student cases
- St. Peter’s Catholic School: Fewer than 5 student cases
Private schools in Lexington County
- Arrows Academy: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Grace Christian: Fewer than 5 employee cases
- Heritage Christian Academy: Fewer than 5 student cases
- Lake Murray Baptist Church Kindergarten: Fewer than 5 student cases
This story was originally published October 13, 2020 at 2:31 PM.
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