No new coronavirus cases reported in Beaufort County on Saturday. Total remains at 273
For the fourth day this week, no new cases of coronavirus were reported in Beaufort County on Saturday, according to S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control data.
Since the pandemic began, 273 cases of the illness have been reported in the county.
DHEC also reported no new cases in the county last Sunday, Monday and Thursday.
There were no new coronavirus-related deaths reported in the county Saturday.
Across the state, DHEC reported 168 new COVID-19 cases and 10 additional deaths Saturday. The epidemic has claimed at least 330 lives, according to DHEC’s most recent data. In Beaufort County, 12 people have died.
Statewide, 7,531 people have tested positive since the pandemic began.
Earlier in the week, S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster allowed restaurants to reopen outdoor dining. On Friday, he announced that restaurants would also be able to offer indoor services starting Monday.
DHEC unveiled plans Wednesday for a massive testing effort across South Carolina’s nursing homes. The agency plans to test all 40,000 residents and staff members in the state’s 194 long-term care facilities by the end of the month, reported The State newspaper in Columbia.
State health officials plan to increase testing for COVID-19 by 2% of South Carolina’s population in both May and June, DHEC chief of staff Jennifer Read told The State on Wednesday.
Just more than 1% of the population — or about 68,000 people — have been tested so far.
Coronavirus-related deaths
Here are the Beaufort County deaths recorded by the coroner’s office as of Saturday, May 9.
- 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
- An 84-year-old Beaufort man who died April 28
DHEC reported a 12th death in the county on May 5, but Beaufort County Coroner Ed Allen said Wednesday his office had not recorded any new coronavirus-related deaths this week.
Beaufort County could have as many as 1,677 undiagnosed cases as of Saturday, DHEC’s data show.
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.
DHEC’s totals can have small increases and decreases day to day as officials find discrepancies in the data or reclassify cases. The cases include anyone who has tested positive since the pandemic started. The data also includes those who have recovered or died.
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