1 in 8 Beaufort Co. students quarantining as schools pass 600 COVID cases in new year
COVID infections and quarantines are steadily rising in Beaufort County School District.
Between Aug. 30 and Sunday, the district logged 236 new COVID infections, 220 among students and 16 among staff.
That’s up from 234 infections the week before.
In the same time period, nearly 3,000 people quarantined — 2,839 students and 49 staff.
That means that about one in every eight district students was quarantined last week. It’s the highest number of people in quarantine in the school district recorded since the start of the pandemic.
Since school began on Aug. 16, the district has recorded 670 COVID-19 infections. Approximately 2.7% of the district’s combined student and staff population of 24,400 has been infected with COVID in the last three weeks.
The rise in cases in Beaufort County tracks with the rest of South Carolina. The state’s Department of Health and Environmental Control reported 38,000 new COVID infections across S.C. last week, the second-highest number since the start of the pandemic.