While cases drop, COVID-19 deaths mount in Beaufort County. Here are the latest numbers
Beaufort County has already recorded 24 confirmed and probable COVID-19 deaths halfway through September, equaling the total number of coronavirus fatalities reported during the entire month of August.
Those numbers reflect a grim phase of the county’s delta variant surge.
Cases are beginning to drop. But deaths are still mounting, and hospitalizations remain high among unvaccinated people infected earlier this summer.
Beaufort Memorial Hospital, as of Tuesday, was treating 58 coronavirus patients, with 12 of those people in the intensive care unit.
Only seven fully vaccinated residents were hospitalized with COVID-19, hospital data show. Fifty-one people, or roughly 88% of coronavirus patients, were unvaccinated.
In comparison, the county’s largest medical center had 51 COVID-19 patients on Aug. 25, and about 78% of those people were unvaccinated.
To be sure, there is some hope: Beaufort County’s seven-day average of newly confirmed infections, as of Wednesday, had dropped to 83 new cases per day. That represents a significant decline since late August, when the county was recording 147 infections every 24 hours.
But like past COVID-19 surges, hospitalizations and deaths typically lag behind cases, meaning the Lowcountry’s latest wave of infections is not over yet.
And this ongoing surge has been particularly troubling, given the wide availability of COVID-19 vaccines: During one week in late August, Beaufort County recorded 15 coronavirus deaths, according to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.
That was the second-highest weekly COVID-19 death toll in the county since the pandemic began, DHEC data show.
What’s happening in schools?
Between Sept. 6 and 12, the Beaufort County School District recorded 179 new student cases and 13 new staff cases.
In the same time span, it reported 2,254 active student quarantines and 38 active staff quarantines.
Bluffton High School, Hilton Head Island High School and Hilton Head Island Middle School had the highest rates of infections last week, according to district spokesperson Candace Bruder.
These are the lowest infection and quarantine numbers that the district has recorded since the school year began on Aug. 16.
The previous week had the highest figures in both categories, with 236 new cases and 2,888 active quarantines recorded between Aug. 30 and Sept. 5.
In total, the district has reported 862 COVID-19 cases since the start of the school year.
Bruder said these numbers are subject to increases as school nurses continue to log new cases.
This week, one district school — Whale Branch Middle School — is operating fully virtual, given that more than half of the student body was actively quarantining last week.
Countywide data
Here are the latest Beaufort County coronavirus numbers from DHEC:
New cases reported Wednesday: 80 confirmed, 17 probable
New cases reported Tuesday: 81 confirmed, 28 probable
New deaths reported from Tuesday to Wednesday: 2 confirmed
Seven-day average of new cases: 83 confirmed infections per day
Two-week incidence rate: 1,011 cases per 100,000 people
Vaccination rate: 47.1% of residents have been fully vaccinated
Immunity estimate as of Sept. 8: 64% of residents have some level of immunity against COVID-19, according to the Medical University of South Carolina
ZIP code data since July 1
Bluffton ZIP code, 29910: 2,277 cases
Hilton Head Island ZIP code, 29926: 880 cases
Hilton Head ZIP code, 29928: 340 cases
Beaufort ZIP code, 29902: 1,029 cases
Okatie ZIP code, 29909: 572 cases
