Beaufort County Coroner reports deaths of 29-year-old and 66-year-old; 28 new cases Monday

Beaufort County Coroner’s Office reported two COVID-19 deaths Monday, one of them the youngest recorded in the county since the pandemic started.

A 29-year-old Florida man died in Bluffton on June 23, said Janet Horton, Coroner’s Office administrative deputy.

His death was not reported by S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control because it tracks only the deaths of individuals who live in the state.

Horton also said a 66-year-old Beaufort man died at Beaufort Memorial Hospital on June 27. She said the man lived at Bayview Manor nursing home before being transferred to the hospital.

Twenty deaths have been reported in the county since the start of the pandemic, per DHEC and the Coroner’s Office data. The two agencies do not track data the same.

Twenty-eight new cases of COVID-19 and 1,148 total overall were reported in Beaufort County on Monday by DHEC.

As of Monday, Bluffton’s zip code of 29910 continued to lead the county with 303 cases.

South Carolina has recorded a total of 34,546 cases of the novel coronavirus and 717 deaths overall since the pandemic began.

There were four new COVID-19 related deaths confirmed Monday in the state. All the individuals were identified as elderly.

Beaufort County’s seven-day average of new coronavirus cases was at 38 Monday.

The county’s highest average was 40 on June 24.

The county’s lowest seven-day average for new cases was zero on May 9.

About 69 percent of hospital beds statewide were in use Monday.

About 1,032 of the 7,336 beds in use were occupied by patients who either tested positive or are under investigation for COVID-19.

DHEC data shows 61% of the beds in Beaufort County and 52% in Jasper County were in use.

Beaufort Memorial Hospital was treating 10 inpatients for COVID-19 Thursday. Nineteen inpatients were under investigation for coronavirus, a hospital spokesperson said.

There were four COVID-19 inpatients being treated Thursday in the Hilton Head Regional Healthcare System, a spokesperson said. The system includes Hilton Head and Coastal Carolina hospitals.

DHEC does not provide a county-by-county breakdown of how hospital beds are being used.

Cases by ZIP code

Beaufort County Coronavirus Cases by ZIP Code, Datawrapper Table

Beaufort County could have as many as 7,052 undiagnosed cases, DHEC officials say.

DHEC does not provide an overall, county-by-county number of cases versus the number of people who have recovered. It also does not release any identifying information or specifics concerning underlying conditions that someone who dies from the coronavirus might have had.

Positive cases are those in which a patient has been tested for and been diagnosed with coronavirus. Because of a lack of access to testing, state health officials have said that for every 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 total count of cases include anyone who has tested positive since the pandemic started. The data also includes those who have recovered or died.

DHEC counts deaths based on where the patient lives rather than where he or she died.

Coronavirus cases at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island are being reported in the 29902 ZIP code.