8 new coronavirus cases confirmed in Beaufort Co. Friday; no additional deaths
Beaufort County’s COVID-19 case count rose to 314 on Friday as state health officials reported eight new confirmed cases of the coronavirus.
The total represents people who have tested positive for the virus since the beginning of the pandemic in March. It also includes residents who have recovered or died.
The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control did not report any additional coronavirus-related deaths on Friday in the county.
Across the state, DHEC said there were 245 new cases and three additional deaths. The total number of South Carolinians who have tested positive for COVID-19 is 9,638, according to the latest figures. The health agency said 419 people have died after contracting the virus.
The announcement comes a day after The State Media Co., The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette reported more than a third of those deaths were nursing home residents, the majority concentrated in a small handful of facilities that couldn’t contain COVID-19 outbreaks.
Coronavirus-related deaths
Here are the Beaufort County deaths recorded by the coroner’s office as of Friday, May 22:
- 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
- A 79-year-old Bluffton woman who died May 4.
Beaufort County could have as many as 1,929 undiagnosed cases, DHEC officials say.
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.
DHEC’s totals can have small increases and decreases day to day as officials find discrepancies in the data.
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 May 22.
Coronavirus cases at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island are being reported in the 29902 ZIP code.
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