Coronavirus

45 new COVID-19 cases reported in Beaufort County on Saturday; no new deaths

No new COVID-19 deaths were reported in Beaufort County on Saturday, according S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control data. That means the county’s total death toll since the pandemic began remains at 62.

DHEC also reported 45 new cases in Beaufort County. The county has had 4,504 confirmed cases since the pandemic began.

The Bluffton ZIP code of 29910 continued to lead the county with 1,122 cases.

There were 33 deaths and 825 new cases reported statewide Saturday. Since the pandemic began, 109,962 cases have been confirmed and 2,372 people have died after being diagnosed with the illness.

Labs and clinics have been returning COVID-19 test results faster than they were last month when some patients were waiting two weeks or more for results, The Island Packet previously reported.

The number of positive coronavirus cases in Beaufort County has dropped recently, but that drop coincided with a decline in the number of tests administered in the county, according to DHEC.

The total number of individual test results, not including antibody tests, reported to DHEC Friday statewide was 6,007 and the percent positive was 13.7%.

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, up to nine people could be infected but have not been tested.

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

DHEC’s totals can have small increases and decreases day to day as officials correct 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 that people who die 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 U.S. Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island are being reported in the 29902 ZIP code.

Kate Hidalgo Bellows
The Island Packet
Kate Hidalgo Bellows covers workforce and livability issues in Beaufort County for The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette. A graduate of the University of Virginia and a native of Fairfax City, Virginia, she moved to the Lowcountry to write for The Island Packet as a Report for America corps member in May 2020. She has written for The New York Times, The Patriot-News, and Charlottesville Tomorrow, and is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. She has won South Carolina Press Association awards for enterprise reporting, in-depth reporting and food writing.
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