SC reports fewer than 1,000 COVID-19 cases for fourth straight day
South Carolina health officials Thursday reported 921 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and 42 deaths from the virus, marking the fourth straight day fewer than 1,000 cases have been reported.
Just over 8% of the 26,810 COVID-19 tests reported Thursday returned positive results, according to the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.
DHEC, which recently changed the way it calculates percent positivity, determines the rate by taking the total number of positive viral tests and dividing those 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.
COVID-19 hospitalizations, which have declined significantly since mid-January, dropped again Thursday to 939, their lowest point since late November.
Since March of last year, the state has reported 440,517 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 7,502 deaths from the virus.
South Carolina counts an additional 71,029 cases, including 344 Thursday, as probable positives. They also count another 941 deaths, including five Thursday, as probable COVID-19 deaths.
DHEC defines a probable case as someone who has had a positive antigen test or has virus symptoms and is at high risk for infection. Probable deaths are ones where the death certificate lists COVID-19 as the cause of or a contributing factor to death, but the person was not tested for the virus.
The state has reported a cumulative total of 511,546 probable and confirmed COVID-19 cases and 8,443 probable and confirmed deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.
Vaccines distributed
As of Thursday, South Carolina had received 594,950 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine and 489,600 doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine.
The agency reported Thursday that 389,387 first doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 182,280 first doses of the Moderna vaccine had been administered so far. Another 163,926 second doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 78,195 second doses of the Moderna vaccine also have been administered.
Administrations of the Moderna vaccine currently lag behind Pfizer administrations because Moderna shots had originally been used exclusively to vaccinate long-term care facility residents and staff as part of a federal pharmacy partnership. In recent weeks, the Moderna vaccine, which does not have the same ultra-cold storage requirements as the Pfizer vaccine, has been shipped to pharmacies, federally qualified health centers and other providers, and its uptake is expected to increase.
Health care workers, long-term care facility residents and staff, and all people age 65 and older are currently eligible to receive vaccinations.
In addition to the 814,000 first and second vaccine doses that have been administered, South Carolinians have scheduled another 501,000 vaccination appointments, DHEC said.
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 who lack internet access, DHEC has launched a phone line — 866-365-8110 — where operators are 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 themselves and recommends routine monthly testing for anyone who is out and about in the community, even if they are asymptomatic.
To find a testing location near you, visit DHEC’s website at scdhec.gov/covid19/covid-19-testing-locations.
