Beaufort Co. sees 59 new COVID-19 cases, no new deaths Saturday. Hospital bed data paused
Beaufort County on Saturday recorded 59 new cases of the coronavirus, according to S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control data.
No new deaths in the county were announced Saturday.
As of Saturday, DHEC has discovered 2,392 cases of COVID-19 in Beaufort County since the pandemic began. The Bluffton ZIP code of 29910 continues to lead the county with 642 confirmed cases.
The county has seen six deaths from COVID-19 this month — seven were reported in June. Since the start of the pandemic, 27 people have died in the county as of Thursday, according to Beaufort County Coroner’s Office data.
South Carolina has recorded 67,396 cases of the novel coronavirus and 1,117 confirmed deaths this year.
Beaufort County’s seven-day average of new daily coronavirus cases was 69 on Saturday— one of the highest this year. The county’s lowest seven-day average of new cases was zero on May 9.
DHEC has reported Beaufort County as one of 32 counties with the highest “incidence rates” in the state. Public health officials said the 32 counties each had 301 cases or more per 100,000 people reported between June 30 and July 13.
The state agency also reported that every county in the state but six — Kershaw, Lancaster, Laurens, Marlboro, Pickens and Sumter — were seeing an increase in incidence rates for the past two weeks compared to the previous two-week period.
In its press release Saturday, DHEC noted that, at the federal government’s request, it is switching from using the CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network COVID-19 module to TeleTracking’s U.S. Healthcare COVID-19 Portal to track hospital bed occupancy data. It noted there may be a few lags in the data from TeleTracking as the system adjusts.
It was able to say that 73% of hospital beds in Beaufort County and 55.6% in Jasper County were occupied as of Saturday. DHEC does not provide a county-by-county breakdown of how hospital beds are being used.
On Friday, the last day statewide hospital bed data was provided, 72.3% of hospital beds statewide were in use. About 1,590 of the roughly 7,880 occupied beds were filled by patients who had either tested positive or are under investigation for COVID-19.
Around 21% of 7,060 viral COVID-19 tests completed statewide Friday were positive, according to DHEC.
Beaufort County could have as many as 14,694 undiagnosed cases, health 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 diagnosed with COVID-19. 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 includes anyone who has tested positive since the start of the pandemic. The data also includes those who have recovered or died. DHEC counts deaths based on where a patient lives rather than where they died.
Coronavirus cases at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island are being reported in the 29902 ZIP code.
This story was originally published July 18, 2020 at 3:27 PM.
