2 new COVID-19 deaths reported in Beaufort County Thursday; 65 new cases

Two new COVID-19 related deaths were reported in Beaufort County Thursday including a middle-aged Bluffton man.

The 58 year old died at Hilton Head Head Hospital Monday, according to Janet Horton, Beaufort County Coroner’s Office administrative deputy.

An elderly individual who died on Wednesday also was announced by S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control Thursday. No other information was available Thursday afternoon.

The coroner’s office did not have a record of the elderly individual’s death. If the death happens outside Beaufort County, there is sometimes a delay in the information reaching the coroner’s office.

As of Thursday, the coroner’s office was reporting 32 COVID-19 related deaths since the pandemic started. This excludes the elderly individual reported by DHEC Thursday.

Eleven of the deaths happened in July. The month’s death toll surpasses the record set in April of 9.

Sixty-five new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the county on Thursday, bringing the total to 2,721 since the pandemic began, according to data from DHEC.

As of Thursday, the Bluffton ZIP code of 29910 continued to lead the county with 738 cases.

South Carolina has recorded 76,315 cases of the novel coronavirus and 1,294 confirmed deaths since the pandemic began.

There were 49 confirmed deaths reported Thursday statewide. Six were middle aged and 43 were elderly.

Beaufort County’s seven-day average of new daily coronavirus cases was 64 Thursday.

The highest seven-day average of 80 was recorded on July 16.

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

DHEC reported that every county but five — Edgefield, Lancaster, Malboro, Cherokee and Oconee — had 301 cases or more per 100,000 people reported between July 7 and July 20.

The state agency also reported that Beaufort was seeing an increase in incidence rates for the past two weeks compared to the previous two-week period. Counties that saw a stable or decreasing rate included Charleston, Marion, Horry, Dillon, Lancaster, Laurens, Pickens and Oconee.

Twenty percent of 7,360 COVID-19 tests completed statewide Wednesday were positive, DHEC says.

DHEC reported Thursday that 64 percent of hospital beds in the state Wednesday were occupied and that 1,723 of the 7,998 occupied beds are for COVID-19 patients. Of the 1,458 ventilators in the state, 532 are in use and 241 of those for COVID-19 patients.

Beaufort County could have as many as 16,715 undiagnosed cases, DHEC officials say.

Positive cases are those in which a patient has been tested for and 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.

The total count of cases includes anyone who has tested positive since the pandemic started. The data also includes those who have recovered or died.

DHEC’s totals can have small increases and decreases day to day as officials find discrepancies in the data.

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 someone who dies from the coronavirus might have had.

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.

This story was originally published July 23, 2020 at 3:32 PM.