10th Beaufort County coronavirus death an 80-year-old man, officials say

Beaufort County’s 10th coronavirus-related death was an 80-year-old man from the Yemassee area, who died April 23, the Beaufort County Coroner’s Office said Monday.

The Yemassee man died at a hospital, said Beaufort County Administrative Deputy Coroner Janet Horton.

S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control had announced a 10th death in Beaufort County Friday, but the coroner’s office didn’t have details at the time.

One new positive COVID-19 case was reported in Beaufort County on Monday for a total of 254, according to the most recent information reported by the DHEC.

DHEC’s totals can have small increases and decreases day to day as officials find discrepancies in the data.

DHEC reported no new deaths Monday for Beaufort County, but said that statewide, three people, all elderly, died of the virus.

The county could have as many as 1,560 undiagnosed cases, DHEC officials say. For every person who tests positive for the coronavirus, there could be up to nine people who are infected but have not been tested.

Overall, 5,613 people have tested positive for the coronavirus statewide since the start of the global pandemic.

Coronavirus-related deaths

DHEC’s data on COVID-19 deaths continues to be unclear and can conflict with data collected by the Beaufort County Coroner’s Office.

The state agency dropped the county’s death toll from seven to six on April 19. It then added three deaths on April 21 and another April 24 for a total of 10 deaths.

A note at the bottom of DHEC’s daily releases says the data will adjust to reflect any reclassified cases.

It also says deaths are reported by where a person lives, which is different from the way coroners typically collect data. Coroners base their findings on where a person dies.

DHEC does not report information about each victim such as age or city of residence.

The Beaufort County Coroner’s Office’s death totals have steadily increased.

“We are tracking confirmed COVID-19 deaths that are reported to us by the hospitals,” Chief Deputy Coroner David Ott said Tuesday.

He said the Coroner’s Office data also has one home death that was confirmed and one death of a Beaufort County individual at Jasper County’s Coastal Carolina Hospital. The ninth death was at a nursing home.

“Our numbers are completely separate from DHEC,” Ott said.

He also said DHEC doesn’t provide details about its case count to the coroner’s office.

The coroner’s office is required to report all coronavirus cases that happen outside of a hospital to DHEC, he said.

Here are the deaths recorded by the coroner’s office as of Monday, April 27:

• 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.
• An 80-year-old Yemassee man who died April 23

Overall, South Carolina has seen 177 deaths from the virus.

Hospital capacity

As of Monday morning, 44.1% of hospital beds in Beaufort County were being utilized, and 57.6% statewide, for all types of hospitalizations, DHEC data shows.

A 59-year-old Beaufort man was one of two patients released from Beaufort Memorial Hospital April 15 after being seriously ill with COVID-19.

Coronavirus cases by ZIP code

Here is the breakdown of confirmed coronavirus cases in Beaufort County ZIP codes.

The cases include anyone who has tested positive since the pandemic started. The data also includes those who have recovered or died. According to DHEC, these numbers are current as of April 26.

• 81 positive in Beaufort (29902)
• 37 positive northwest of Beaufort (29906)
• 22 positive east of Beaufort (29907)
• 11 positive in Okatie (29909)
• 47 positive in Bluffton (29910)
• One positive on Daufuskie Island (29915)
• Eight positive on St. Helena Island (29920)
• 17 positive on Hilton Head Island (29926)
• 10 positive on Hilton Head (29928)
• Nine positive in Port Royal (29935)
• 12 positive in Ridgeland (29936)
• Five positive in Hardeeville (29927)
• One positive in Seabrook (29940)
• One positive in Sheldon (29941)
• Four positive in Yemassee (29945)

Positive cases are those in which a patient has been tested and diagnosed with coronavirus. Because of a lack of access to testing, state health officials have said that for every one confirmed case, there could be up to nine people who are infected but have not been tested.

Parris Island cases

Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in Port Royal stopped releasing information about coronavirus cases but said the information would still be reported to DHEC.

The depot’s ZIP code of 29905 has not been included in DHEC’s report’s because it is for the depot’s post office and no population is associated with that code, a spokesperson previously said.

Since there wasn’t a populace, the 29905 cases were being absorbed into the nearest ZIP Code of 29902.