An 83-year-old Lady’s Island woman is the fifth death from coronavirus in Beaufort County, S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control reported Thursday.
The woman died Tuesday, Beaufort County Administrative Deputy Coroner Janet Horton said Thursday.
She was one of four deaths in the state announced by DHEC Thursday. All of the deaths were of elderly patients with underlying health conditions, a release says.
There have been 67 deaths overall in the state.
Beaufort County has seen four other coronavirus deaths:
An 89-year-old Hilton Head Island woman died Saturday
An 86-year-old Hilton Head man died Friday
A 72-year-old Beaufort man died March 31
An 81-year-old Beaufort man died March 30
There were ten new cases announced in Beaufort County Thursday for a total of 184. The state increased 241 cases for 2,792 total.
The city of Beaufort had the most cases in the county with 64. Bluffton followed with 31. Hilton Head Island added two cases Thursday for a total of 20.
How many COVID-19 cases are on Parris Island?
Drill instructor conducts close order drill at the 3rd Battalion parade deck aboard Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C., Feb. 24, 2016. Close order drill helps to instill self-discipline in recruits as they become U.S. Marines. Lance Cpl. Richard Currier Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island
Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in Port Royal stopped releasing information about coronavirus cases to the public last week but it said the information would still be reported to SDHEC.
It was previously reported by Military.com that the depot had 20 cases of COVID-19.
The cases haven’t been easy to track in DHEC’s ZIP code data released daily since a ZIP code associated with the Depot, 29905, has not been included in the listing.
DHEC said Wednesday it believed that the 29905 ZIP code was solely for the depot’s post office and that there wass no populace associated with that code.
That was a day after a spokeswoman with the department said via emai ,that there were 39 cases associated with the ZIP code.
“We’re working to refine the GIS discrepancies like this one and all of the “unknowns” within the ZIP code listings in order to provide the most accurate information,” DHEC spokeswoman Laura Renwick said in an email Wednesday.
Renwick previously said positive cases for Parris Island were reported in the “unknown” category because the cases were reported to DHEC as being in multiple zip codes.
The data posted by DHEC late Tuesday showed unknown cases dropped by 30 to 11.
Parris Island’s zip code was not added to the overall zip code list and Beaufort’s zip code of 29902 increased by 45 cases.
In response to an emailed question, Renwick said Thursday the 29905 cases were being absorbed into the nearest zip code of 29906 per “geocoding best practices”.
The 29906 ZIP code for an area northwest of Beaufort showed 20 cases of coronavirus Thursday.
Additional emailed questions about the case numbers were not answered.
Coronavirus by city ZIP code
Dr. Mark Bechtel, D.O., wearing full personal protective equipment explains on Friday, April 2, 2020 at Beaufort Memorial Hospital ’s Express Care on Ribaut Road, that Streptococcus or strep and flu tests are done when swabbing patients whose symptoms could be COVID-19. While the coronavirus results must be sent off-site, strep and flu results can be garnered on site within minutes. When asked about positive flu results Bechtel said, “The flu results have been low.” Drew Martin dmartin@islandpacket.com
Here is a ZIP code breakdown of where people tested positive and the state’s estimates of other possible cases in Beaufort County as of Thursday.
64 positive and 457 possible in Beaufort (29902)
6 possible west of Beaufort (29904)
20 positive and 143 possible northwest of Beaufort (29906)
13 positive and 93 possible east of Beaufort (29907)
9 positive and 63 possible in Okatie (29909)
31 positive and 221 possible in Bluffton (29910)
One positive and 7 possible on Daufuskie Island (29915)
Eight positive and 57 possible on St. Helena Island (29920).
20 positive and 143 possible on Hilton Head (29926 and 29928)
Five positive and 36 possible in Port Royal (29935)
One positive and 1 possible in Ridgeland (29936)
One positive and 7 possible in Seabrook (29940)
One positive and seven possible in Sheldon (29941)
Two positive and 7 possible in Yemassee (29945)
8 cases are listed as unknown ZIP codes.
Possible Cases
Two tents sit outside the emergency entrance to Beaufort Memorial Hospital as seen on Friday, April 3, 2020 as part of the care for patients experiencing symptoms that could be the coronavirus. Patients experiencing symptoms first go to the emergency entrance. If symptoms indicate they may need to get tested they are taken to the tent, left, to be screened more thoroughly and then to the next tent to be swabbed for Streptococcus or strep, the flu and COVID-19. Drew Martin dmartin@islandpacket.com
The state projected Thursday that there are about 1,073 undiagnosed cases for a total of 1,257 possible cases in Beaufort County. The possible cases include the 184 people who have tested positive.
DHEC first released case estimates for every county Monday; that number then was 752 for Beaufort County. The estimate rises with every new positive case.
The department estimated there are up to nine people with the virus for every person who tests positive, a DHEC press release said.
It estimates there were 19,476 possible cases statewide Thursday.
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Teresa Moss is a crime and public safety reporter for The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette. She has worked as a journalist for 16 years for newspapers in Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas.
