More than 4,000 new COVID-19 cases reported in South Carolina on Saturday
In grim, blockbuster numbers at the beginning of a new year, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control reported more than 4,200 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Saturday, along with nearly seven dozen new deaths.
The Palmetto State is nearing 5,000 total deaths from the pandemic. Nearly 2,000 people were in state hospitals with the virus as of Saturday.
The state health department reported 4,219 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, along with 84 new deaths. There were 12,722 tests administered, and the percent positive on those tests was 33.2%. A percent positive that high is considered dangerous in terms of community spread, with public health officials noting it should be much closer to 5% to indicate a community has control of the virus.
In total, 287,776 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in South Carolina since March, and 4,968 residents of the Palmetto State have been killed by the virus.
Meanwhile, the state health department reported that 1,994 people with the coronavirus were in South Carolina hospitals as of Saturday morning. Of those, 413 were in intensive care, and 214 were on ventilators.
During a Saturday news conference, DHEC interim public health director Dr. Brannon Traxler continued to implore citizens to wear masks in an effort to slow down the virus, even as vaccines for COVID-19 have begun to make their way into the populace.
“I want everyone to remember that, while we are vaccinating, which everyone nationwide agrees is going to take some months to complete the entire population, I really encourage people to keep doing the things that we know work, that are very simple, like wearing masks,” Traxler said. She said an Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation model has shown that South Carolina could reduce the number of deaths by 450 people between now and April 1 if everyone wore masks.
This story was originally published January 2, 2021 at 12:10 PM.
