Nearly 13% of COVID-19 tests in Jasper Co. have been positive since March, data show
About 12.6% of viral COVID-19 tests performed in Jasper County have come back positive since the pandemic began in March, according to state data released Tuesday.
A total of 2,037 viral tests have been administered in the county as of July 14, according to S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control data obtained by The Island Packet under the Freedom of Information Act.
In comparison, over 14,000 viral tests had been conducted in Beaufort County as of July 8, with 11.6% of those tests returning positive, DHEC data show.
Of the roughly 2,000 tests in Jasper County, 258 were positive and 1,779 were negative, according to the Tuesday data.
As of Thursday, DHEC had reported a total of 308 confirmed coronavirus infections in the county.
DHEC releases statewide testing totals daily, but there is no regular county-by-county breakdown of those numbers.
Just over 1.9% of antibody tests performed in Jasper County this year have also returned positive, data show. Antibody tests, or serology tests, determine only whether a person was likely infected by the coronavirus previously.
About 100 antibody tests have been conducted in the county since March, according to the data. Only two of those came back positive.
Meanwhile, as of July 8, more than 2,800 antibody tests had been performed in Beaufort County — 111 of those were positive.
The first viral test in Jasper County was administered March 14, according to DHEC.
The first antibody test was done March 29.
As of Wednesday, about 539,000 viral COVID-19 tests had been performed statewide since the pandemic began, according to DHEC. About 46,000 antibody tests had been conducted.
DHEC has been pushing to test more people across the Palmetto State amid a surge in newly confirmed coronavirus cases. South Carolina has seen over 63,000 COVID-19 cases this year, with a rising positive rate of infections.
On Thursday, DHEC reported a positivity rate of 21.3% for tests conducted statewide Wednesday.
Dr. Kathleen Cartmell, a public health professor at Clemson University, in an interview Monday said the pandemic’s trajectory is extremely concerning.
“I just think it’s going to keep going through the population,” Cartmell said of the pathogen. “I don’t see anything that would stop it, if we’re not taking more extra precautions” before a vaccine is developed.
This story was originally published July 17, 2020 at 12:08 PM.
