Health officials report over 700 new cases of COVID-19 and 32 more deaths in SC

Cases of COVID-19 and hospitalizations in South Carolina continued to drop Sunday, according to the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.

Health officials confirmed 732 new positive tests, 60 fewer than reported Saturday, and 32 more deaths in the Palmetto State. One of the deaths was confirmed in a young adult (18-34 years old) in Richland County, according to DHEC.

Since testing began in March 2020, 449,977 cases of the coronavirus and 7,744 deaths have been reported in South Carolina.

Sunday’s data is based on 24,261 tests, and the percentage of tests coming back positive was 4.4%, according to DHEC. Sunday’s ratio is significantly lower then the Jan. 7 percent positive of 34.2%, which is the record for highest in a single day, but that is partially because of a change DHEC made in the way the percent positive is calculated.

DHEC calculates the positivity rate by taking the total number of positive viral tests and dividing it by the total number of tests taken. The number of cases is lower than the number of positive tests because some people take multiple tests.

The single-day record of 226 deaths was reported on Jan. 28.

The most new cases in a single day were the 6,824 positive tests from Jan. 8. No other single-day report has surpassed 5,000 new positive tests.

Since Dec. 27, there have been 10 days with more than 4,000 new cases of coronavirus confirmed in a single day, the data show. Prior to the surge in December and January, the previous single-day record was 2,343 cases confirmed on July 18.

Sunday marked the 99th day out of the past 111 that more than 1,000 positive tests were confirmed in South Carolina, dating back to Nov. 16 when DHEC reported 981 new cases. From Monday through Thursday last week no single day case count exceeded 1,000 positive tests.

Health officials reported more than 3,000 daily cases 27 times, and more than 2,000 positive tests have been confirmed in a single day 61 times, the data show.

Vaccine distribution

Health officials said Sunday that South Carolina had received 1,611,518 total doses of COVID-19 vaccines, and that 1,170,653 of those doses had been administered.

The majority of the doses received, or 793,218, are Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines that have gone to front-line health care workers and community first responders. Of those vaccinations administered, 467,204 have been first doses, while 308,892 more are second doses, according to DHEC.

The other 652,700 are Moderna vaccines. To date, 290,880 first doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine have been administered, and another 103,667 second doses have been given, data show.

Another 560,368 people have made appointments for vaccinations.

Anyone eligible to receive a vaccine who would like to get one can use DHEC’s locator tool to find a provider with availability near you at www.scdhec.gov/vaxlocator. For those without internet access, DHEC recently launched a phone line — (866) 365-8110 — with operators available every day from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. to help people searching for information about vaccine providers.

State health officials advise South Carolinians to continue taking measures to mitigate spread of COVID-19 as the vaccination rollout progresses in the months ahead.

DHEC urges anyone who is symptomatic or who has been exposed to someone with COVID-19 to get tested and recommends routine monthly testing for anyone who is out and about, even if they are asymptomatic.

To find a testing location near you, visit DHEC’s website at scdhec.gov/covid19/covid-19-testing-locations.

Overall, 6,155,586 tests have been conducted in South Carolina.

Which counties were affected?

Even as COVID-19 cases decline in all regions of the state, the Upstate continues to outpace all other South Carolina regions in its daily number of coronavirus cases.

Greenville County, the state’s most populous county, reported 108 new cases Sunday, and nearby Spartanburg County had 66 more, with an additional 32 in neighboring Anderson County, according to DHEC.

Richland County reported 43 new cases, fifth most in South Carolina, and Lexington County reported 23 more positive tests.

That brings the number of confirmed cases in Richland County to 36,138, and in Lexington County to 24,375.

COVID-19 has taken the greatest toll on South Carolina’s elderly residents.

The average age of all South Carolinians who have died from coronavirus complications is 75, and the vast majority of those who died — 88% — were over 60, the data show.

Of the deaths reported Sunday, 19 were elderly (65 and older) and 12 were middle-aged (35-64) people, health officials said.

Overall, 458 coronavirus-related deaths have been reported in Richland County, while the death toll increased to 406 in Lexington County, according to DHEC.

How are hospitals being impacted?

The number of people hospitalized statewide for COVID-19 Sunday was 579, continuing a trend of decreasing amounts of COVID-19 patients in South Carolina hospitals.

It was the 38th consecutive day of fewer than 2,000 people with COVID-19 being cared for in a South Carolina hospital, following 30 days in a row in which 2,000-plus coronavirus patients were hospitalized, according to health officials.

Sunday’s hospitalizations marked the lowest point in more than two months, significantly lower than the peak of 2,466.

Coronavirus patients made up 6.8% of all reported inpatients in South Carolina on Sunday, data show.

About 23.6% of COVID-19 patients, or 137 people, are in intensive care units, and 14.3%, or 83 patients, are on ventilators.

Of the 13,429 hospital beds available in South Carolina, 8,432 inpatient beds are currently occupied, health officials said. There are currently 1,211 of 1,775 ICU beds occupied, or 68%, according to DHEC.

In Richland County, 772 hospital beds are occupied (67.4%), while 432 of 541 hospital beds in Lexington County (81.7%) are occupied, according to DHEC.

Are all cases accounted for?

Across the country, health experts said official case counts have likely under-counted the number of coronavirus cases to large degrees. At one point, South Carolina officials estimated that 86% of those infected never got tested or diagnosed, but they no longer provide those estimates.

DHEC also has 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 Sunday, DHEC reported 131 new probable COVID-19 cases in the state and six new probable deaths. That puts the total number of probable cases at 75,888 and total probable deaths at 1,010.