Lancaster County has 2 coronavirus deaths as total nears 70, SC health officials say
Two Lancaster County residents have died after contracting the coronavirus, South Carolina health officials announced Tuesday.
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control reported one of the deaths as part of its daily statewide COVID-19 death count. The department said that individual was elderly and had underlying health ailments.
Lancaster County Emergency Management Director Darren Player said the community is saddened by the death.
“Through these weeks of positive tests, we have always stressed that we are a community of people who need to support each other,” Player said. “We will do so in this case, too.”
Lancaster County Coroner Karla Knight Deese confirmed that death, and announced a second coronavirus death that has not been included as part of DHEC’s official count.
One of the Lancaster County residents died at home and one died in York County at Piedmont Medical Center, Deese said.
DHEC announced Tuesday that nine other individuals have died in Aiken, Berkeley, Clarendon, Lexington, Richland and Horry counties. Eight of the recent deaths involved elderly individuals with underlying health ailments, according to DHEC.
Based on DHEC’s count, there have been 97 coronavirus-related deaths in South Carolina.
York County has reported three deaths, said Chuck Haynes, York County Emergency Management Director.
Haynes said the social distancing, stay-at-home and hygiene guidelines appear to have a positive impact.
Two new cases of coronavirus were reported in York County Tuesday and one case was reported in Lancaster County, according to DHEC. Chester County did not report any new cases.
The department reported 115 new cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, across the state, for a total of 3,553 positive tests in all 46 counties.
Since the pandemic started, there have been 138 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in York County, according to DHEC. Lancaster County has had 67 reported cases and Chester County has had 20 cases.
As of Tuesday, nearly 34,000 coronavirus tests have been completed by DHEC’s public lab and private labs in the state, and roughly 10% of tests have come back positive, according to the department.
New projections released Monday by DHEC show South Carolina could report up to 2,000 new COVID-19 cases per week by early May, with the number of projected statewide cases to rise to 8,677 on May 2.
Based the projections, DHEC calculated that there are up to 848 unidentified cases in York County. The department estimated Lancaster County has as many as 412 unidentified cases and Chester County has up to 123 unidentified cases.
According to its website, DHEC calculates estimated cases based on evidence that for every known case, there could be up to nine unidentified people with the virus.
Confirmed cases by ZIP codes
As of Monday night, there are cases in the following York County ZIP codes:
- 29704 - 1
- 29708 - 14
- 29710 - 23
- 29715 - 26
- 29717 - 1
- 29730 - 23
- 29732 - 38
- 29745 - 8
There are cases in the following Lancaster County ZIP codes:
- 29058 - 4
- 29067 - 6
- 29707 - 16
- 29720 - 45
There are cases in the following Chester County ZIP codes:
- 29014 - 1
- 29055 - 5
- 29706 - 10
- 29712 - 1
- 29714 - 4
This story was originally published April 14, 2020 at 5:19 PM.
