SC reports fewer than 1,000 COVID-19 cases for second straight day, 40 more dead

South Carolina reported its second consecutive day with fewer than 1,000 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, according to the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.

The state had reported 970 cases on Tuesday.

The agency also reported Wednesday that 40 more people have died from COVID-19. Since the start of the pandemic last year, 13,096 people in South Carolina have died from the disease.

DHEC said the 893 new cases reported Wednesday came from testing completed two days earlier. That brings the state’s total COVID-19 case count to roughly 880,000, according to DHEC.

Of the new cases reported, 347 were considered “probable” rather than confirmed.

But as the number of cases go down, so do tests, which results in few positives.

The state conducted 12,893 tests, with 7.6% coming back positive.

The highly contagious delta variant is likely responsible for the majority of new COVID-19 cases in South Carolina, according to state health officials. The exact number of delta cases is unknown because only a fraction of confirmed cases undergo genome sequencing, the process to determine the variant.

There have been 328 deaths — 0.014% of all cases — as of Oct. 8 from “breakthrough” cases, meaning the person was fully vaccinated. The majority of deaths — 65% — are people ages 71 and up. About 65% of those who died had comorbid conditions. And 0.6% of all fully vaccinated people have been infected, while just 0.048% of fully vaccinated people have been hospitalized.

Health officials recommend wearing a face mask and getting the coronavirus vaccine to help limit the spread of the virus.

South Carolina’s vaccination rate is 53.5%, among the lowest in the country.