CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) RESOURCE CENTER Read More
Add To Favorites

South Carolina adds 740 new coronavirus cases, nears 3,000 deaths

State - 9/17/2020

Sep. 17--As health officials prepare to launch expanded COVID-19 testing opportunities in South Carolina, the state added 740 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Thursday.

The Department of Health and Environmental Control also recorded an additional 27 deaths related to COVID-19, pushing the state's total to 2,992 since the pandemic first reached South Carolina in March. DHEC has recorded 132,565 confirmed positive cases of the virus as well.

There were 6,294 individual test results Wednesday, DHEC reported, putting the percentage of tests returning positive at 11.8%. 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.

DHEC also announced Thursday that it would be hosting multiple free testing events at two sites in Columbia over the next few weeks in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Governor Henry McMaster's office and the University of South Carolina.

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 11 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.

Such a spike wouldn't show up in the data immediately, however, as patients may not develop symptoms for as many as two weeks.

State health officials have credited the recent decline 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 opportunities or capacity, but demand has slowed as "testing fatigue" sets in.

To account for lower test totals, officials have highlighted the importance of percentage of tests run that come back positive. Nationally, about 8.5% of tests have turned up positive, according to the CDC.

In South Carolina, that percentage has been higher since March, at 15.4%, DHEC officials reported.

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.

___

(c)2020 The State (Columbia, S.C.)

Visit The State (Columbia, S.C.) at www.thestate.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.