COVID-19 cases rise among Beaufort Co. kids; schools report 100+ infections in 3 days
Almost a quarter of Beaufort County’s new COVID-19 cases last week were recorded among kids aged 11 to 20, according to a Thursday analysis of data from the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.
About 13.2% of infections, meanwhile, were among children younger than 10, DHEC data show.
Only 1.9% of cases were identified in people 81 or older.
In comparison, from Aug. 15 to 21, about 20.1% of infections were among the 11-20 age group; 12.3% of cases were reported among children under the age of 10; and 2.7% of cases were discovered among those 81 or older.
The Thursday analysis shows that, during the Lowcountry’s ongoing wave of delta variant cases, kids and teenagers have been particularly affected.
The recent countywide numbers also have coincided with the start of K-12 classes this fall.
The Beaufort County School District has already reported thousands of COVID-19 quarantines and hundreds of cases among students and staff.
“Since Aug. 21, the 11-20 age group has recorded the highest number of new cases in South Carolina,” added Dr. Jonathan Knoche, a medical consultant at the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, during a Wednesday briefing with reporters.
“If you go back to earlier this summer, for the week of June 12 to the 19, the 11- to 20-year-old age group accounted for 173 cases statewide. This past week, in comparison, that group accounted for 7,713 cases.”
What’s happening in schools?
Between Monday and Wednesday, BCSD reported 107 new COVID-19 cases — 97 among students and 10 among staff, according to district spokesperson Candace Bruder. She said that Bluffton Middle School, Lady’s Island Middle School and Red Cedar Elementary School had the highest rate of new infections in that timeframe.
In a Monday night email, Bluffton Middle School Principal Matt Hall told parents that the school “has had to begin quarantining entire classrooms.”
“If we continue to see a rise in Covid cases in our school, we will need to quarantine our ENTIRE school for at least two weeks and move to 100% online learning,” Hall wrote, adding that he was “highly encouraging masks in our school building.”
In total, the district has logged 541 cases since school began on Aug. 16.
Between Monday and Wednesday, 2,489 students and 45 staff members were actively quarantining. That’s about one in every nine of the district’s 21,500 students.
Bruder said nurses update the district’s COVID-19 case and quarantine counts throughout the day, meaning those reported numbers could be lower now than the actual total of new infections and active quarantines.
Countywide data
Here are the latest Beaufort County coronavirus data from DHEC:
New cases reported Thursday: 126 confirmed, 9 probable
New deaths reported Thursday: 2 confirmed
Seven-day average of new cases: 141 confirmed infections per day
Two-week incidence rate: 1,303 cases per 100,000 people
ZIP code data as of Monday
Bluffton ZIP code, 29910: 1,760 cases since July 1
Hilton Head Island ZIP code, 29926: 654 cases
Hilton Head ZIP code, 29928: 257 cases
Beaufort ZIP code, 29902: 807 cases
Okatie ZIP code, 29909: 396 cases
This story was originally published September 2, 2021 at 2:05 PM.
