South Carolina’s death toll from COVID-19 passes 3,000, DHEC reports 766 new cases
More than 3,000 South Carolinians have died after contracting COVID-19, as health officials announced an additional 21 confirmed deaths Friday.
That puts the death toll from the novel coronavirus at 3,010 since the pandemic first reached South Carolina in March.
The Department of Health and Environmental Control also recorded 766 new confirmed cases of the virus Friday, putting the state’s total at 133,310.
There were 6,324 individual test results Friday, DHEC reported, putting the percentage of tests returning positive at 12.1%. That’s a decline from the state’s high points in July, when the percentage consistently topped 20%, but it is still above the 5% mark health experts, including DHEC state epidemiologist Linda Bell, have cited as a goal.
Also on Friday, DHEC released its third report comparing case counts in counties and towns that require face masks to be worn in public to those in areas with no such ordinances.
Breaking down the 11 counties and 61 municipalities with mask ordinances into five groups by the date those ordinances went into effect, DHEC reported that the earlier areas implemented mask requirements, the greater decline in cases those areas saw.
In areas where masks were required beginning between June 23 and 29, cases decreased 66.5% more in the next month compared to areas with no mask ordinances. That difference declined across time to the point that there was no greater decrease in areas that implemented mask ordinances between July 21 and 27.
Which counties were affected?
Richland County, which has seen a bump in case counts since college students first started returning to campus in late August, saw the largest increase in new cases Friday, with 74. Neighboring Lexington County added 55.
The following counties saw residents die after contracting COVID-19: Beaufort (3), Chester (1), Darlington (1), Dillon (1), Fairfield (2), Florence (2), Greenville (2), Greenwood (1), Lee (1), Oconee (1), Pickens (1), Richland (1), Spartanburg (2), Williamsburg (1) and York (1).
Of those who died, 14 were elderly, defined by DHEC as 65 years or older, while seven were middle-aged, defined as between 35 and 64 years old.
How is COVID-19 trending in SC?
The number of daily new cases reported in South Carolina hit a high of 2,343 on July 18. In the month after, totals slowly dropped, including a stretch of 13 days in a row when case counts were under 1,000.
The 7-day moving average of new cases rose again in late August and early September, but it has since begun to dip again, and there have now been 12 days in a row of fewer than 1,000 cases.
Ahead of the Labor Day weekend, DHEC and other health experts warned of a possible spike in cases as residents planned vacations to crowded beaches and students returned to schools. The state saw a similar increase in May after Memorial Day, going from about 100 to 300 cases per day to more than 1,000, and to a lesser extent in July after Independence Day, going from 1,600 to 1,900.
But such a spike wouldn’t show up in the data immediately, as patients may not develop symptoms for as many as two weeks.
State health officials have credited the decline since July in part to a significant slowdown in virus activity in areas with face mask requirements and where residents are practicing social distancing.
But they have also said lower testing totals have played a role as well. After regularly reporting more than 10,000 tests a day in July, DHEC has not recorded that many throughout August and September and bottomed out at under 3,000 tests reported in a day on multiple occasions.
Officials have said there has not been a reduction in testing capacity, but demand has slowed as “testing fatigue” sets in. The Department of Health and Human Services has deployed a federal “surge testing team” to push for more testing in the Columbia area over the next several weeks.
To account for lower test totals, officials have highlighted the importance of percentage of tests run that come back positive. Nationally, about 8.3% of tests have turned up positive, according to the CDC.
In South Carolina, that percentage has been higher since March, at 15.3%. With Friday’s results, the seven-day rolling average dropped to 12.9%, the lowest it has been since early June.
In all, 1,205,736 tests have been completed in South Carolina since March.
Are all cases accounted for?
State health officials estimate that around 86% of South Carolinians who contract the virus don’t get tested.
DHEC has also been recording probable cases and probable deaths. A probable case is someone who has not received a lab test result but has virus symptoms or a positive antibody test. A probable death is someone who has not gotten a lab test but whose death certificate lists COVID-19 as a cause of death or a contributing factor.
On Friday, state health officials reported 36 new probable cases and no new probable deaths. That puts the total number of probable cases at 3,008 and total probable deaths at 167.
How are hospitals being impacted?
As of Friday, the state reported 798 patients in South Carolina hospitals have the novel coronavirus, including 217 in intensive care and 125 on ventilators. The number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized at one time peaked at 1,723 on July 23.
In all, 81.69% of inpatient beds in S.C. hospitals are currently occupied, including 74.08% of ICU beds.
This story was originally published September 18, 2020 at 3:08 PM with the headline "South Carolina’s death toll from COVID-19 passes 3,000, DHEC reports 766 new cases."
