SC surpasses 6,000 coronavirus cases. Death toll reaches 244 Thursday
S.C. coronavirus cases exceeded 6,000 Thursday after S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control officials announced 220 new cases.
Twelve additional deaths were also announced:
- Nine of the patients were described as elderly while three were middle-aged.
- They were from Anderson (2), Chesterfield (1), Clarendon (1), Florence (1), Greenville (3), Lexington (2) and Richland (2) counties.
In all, 244 South Carolinians have died after contracting COVID-19, a number that was bolstered after DHEC discovered that 29 coronavirus deaths went unreported.
Overall, Greenville County saw the largest increase in cases Thursday with 36. Richland County posted 16, and Lexington County had seven.
DHEC officials estimate that about 85% of coronavirus cases across the state have yet to be identified. Thursday, they projected that South Carolina has likely seen about 43,500 cases.
They also estimated about 76% of patients who have tested positive for the coronavirus have recovered.
South Carolina should expect about 1,200 positive tests per week through mid-May, according to DHEC projections, and 9,064 identified cases by May 16.
The Palmetto State saw its first coronavirus cases on March 6 in Kershaw and Charleston counties. New cases have been identified almost every day since.
DHEC counted more than 1,000 cases by the end of March. Each day, case counts have fluctuated because of shortages in chemicals needed for testing or because private labs turned in data for multiple days at one time.
Labs across the state have finished 56,512 tests, 15,251 of which were done at DHEC’s lab.
S.C. hospitals are at 60.4% capacity. Wednesday, DHEC officials said of the roughly 7,000 beds available across the state, 311 are being used by patients with known or suspected cases of the virus.
As COVID-19 continues to spread across South Carolina, S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster has ordered that some retail businesses be allowed to open, as well as public beaches. South Carolina has not met several criteria set by the White House for reopening the economy though.
Schools will remain closed for the rest of the academic year, McMaster announced last week.
- Abbeville (1)
- Aiken (2)
- Anderson (3)
- Bamberg (1)
- Barnwell (3)
- Beaufort (1)
- Berkeley (6)
- Calhoun (1)
- Charleston (3)
- Cherokee (2)
- Chester (3)
- Chesterfield (3)
- Clarendon (9)
- Colleton (1)
- Darlington (13)
- Dillon (5)
- Dorchester (3)
- Fairfield (2)
- Florence (16)
- Georgetown (3)
- Greenville (36)
- Greenwood (3)
- Horry (4)
- Kershaw (3)
- Lancaster (3)
- Lee (5)
- Lexington (7)
- Marion (1)
- Marlboro (2)
- Newberry (2)
- Orangeburg (4)
- Pickens (1)
- Richland (16)
- Saluda (6)
- Spartanburg (25)
- Sumter (5)
- Union (1)
- Williamsburg (2)
- York (13)
This story was originally published April 30, 2020 at 4:10 PM.
