Three new Beaufort County coronavirus cases discovered Friday, bringing total to 244.
The number of positive coronavirus cases in Beaufort County continues to inch upward as three new cases announced Friday bring the county’s total to 244, according to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.
An agency news release said eight South Carolina residents across seven counties died Friday, including one “elderly individual” from Beaufort.
That individual was an 80-year-old man from Okatie who died on April 19, according to the county coroner.
Ten people have died due to COVID-19 in Beaufort County, the agency reports.
Jasper County saw two new cases of coronavirus and no new deaths Friday, according to DHEC.
COVID-19 deaths in Beaufort County
The state health agency’s data apparently caught up with what Beaufort County’s coroners have been reporting since Thursday.
While coroners report deaths based on where a person died, DHEC reports deaths based on where a person is from.
Chief Deputy Coroner David Ott told the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette Thursday there have been nine deaths in the confines of Beaufort County. He also said one Beaufort County individual died at Jasper County’s Coastal Carolina Hospital.
With the addition of the 80-year-old man from Okatie, DHEC is now reporting 10 deaths as of Friday. One of those deaths was due to the Beaufort County individual who died in Jasper County.
Here are the deaths recorded by the coroner’s office as of Thursday:
- An 81-year-old Beaufort man who died March 30.
- A 72-year-old Beaufort man who died March 31.
- An 86-year-old Hilton Head Island man who died April 3.
- An 89-year-old Hilton Head woman who died April 4.
- An 83-year-old Lady’s Island woman who died April 7.
- A 75-year-old Bluffton man who died April 9.
- A 71-year-old Hilton Head man who died April 12.
- A 93-year-old Bluffton man who died April 13.
An 80-year-old Okatie man who died April 19.
The total number of South Carolina residents who are confirmed to have coronavirus rose to 5,070 with the addition of 168 new cases on Friday. The total number of people to die from the illness statewide grew to 157.
Coronavirus affects African-Americans at disproportionate levels, says state agency
South Carolina’s total population is 27 percent African-American, but the group makes up “43 percent of COVID-19 cases and 56 percent of related deaths, as indicated in our demographic data,” said DHEC’s release.
The state epidemiologist Dr. Linda Bell said Friday that to address this disparity, DHEC will ramp up testing. Previously, the agency only used kits for essential healthcare workers and for the most serious cases.
“Now, we’re expanding testing in the community for people who have symptoms,” Bell told a call of elected leaders from across the state Friday.
This story was originally published April 24, 2020 at 6:41 PM.
