5th Lancaster County resident dies from coronavirus, SC cases hit 7,000, officials say
One more coronavirus-related death was reported in Lancaster County Thursday, state and local officials announced.
Lancaster County Coroner Karla Knight-Deese said in a press release the death happened Tuesday. Knight-Deese said her office now has confirmed five Lancaster County residents have died after testing positive for COVID-19.
The patient was elderly and had other combined medical conditions, Knight-Deese told The Herald Thursday afternoon.
Lancaster County is set to begin a phased reopening plan next week, officials announced Tuesday. The first reopenings will include libraries and the animal shelter.
The Department of Health and Environmental Control did not report the death as part of its daily statewide COVID-19 death count. As of Thursday, the agency has reported four coronavirus-related deaths in Lancaster County.
DHEC announced that 11 individuals across the state died after contracting the virus. Based on DHEC’s count, there now have been 316 coronavirus-related deaths in South Carolina.
York County Coroner Sabrina Gast said her office has confirmed six York County residents have died after testing positive for COVID-19. As of Thursday, DHEC has reported five coronavirus-related deaths in the county.
Chester County has not reported any deaths.
In addition to the deaths, DHEC identified 214 new statewide cases of COVID-19 bringing its total to 7,142 cases across all 46 counties. Three new coronavirus cases were reported in both York and Lancaster counties. Chester County reported one new case, for a total of 35 cases.
Since the pandemic started, there have been 225 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in York County, and Lancaster County has had 102 cases, according to DHEC.
Fewer cases, but more deaths
York County has seen smaller numbers of positive coronavirus cases in recent days. But this week, three additional coronavirus-related deaths were reported — the most deaths reported in the county in a single week.
County officials are aware of the difficult balance between opening up the economy and the protection of public health, said York County Council member Robert Winkler.
“These are hard decisions about the need to allow business to reopen coupled with the need for people to protect themselves, their families and the community,” Winkler said.
The concern is acute especially for small businesses that have suffered during the period of restricted gatherings and closures, Winkler said. Small businesses have to reopen soon to be able to survive, Winkler said. However, there is legitimate concern about public safety from a spike in cases, he said.
Winkler said the county does not want to lose any businesses, but also doesn’t want to lose any people.
Thursday, company officials confirmed an employee at the Shutterfly site in Fort Mill has tested positive for coronavirus. Shutterfly, which sells communications and personalized products, has around 400 employees at the York County site.
Testing and projected COVID-19 cases
As of Thursday, labs across the state have completed more than 73,442 tests. DHEC’s own lab has done 18,985 tests. DHEC projected last week that about 79% of those diagnosed with the virus have recovered.
Hospitals across the state are at about 67% capacity. Thursday, DHEC officials said, of the 6,674 beds currently used across the state, 484 beds are occupied by patients with known or suspected cases of the virus.
Based on new projections, there are unreported cases in the area. DHEC calculated that there are up to 1,382 unidentified cases in York County. The agency estimated Lancaster County has as many as 620 unidentified cases, and Chester County has up to 215 unidentified cases.
According to its website, DHEC calculates the projected 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 Wednesday night, there are cases in the following York County ZIP codes:
- 29704 - 2
- 29708 - 23
- 29710 - 35
- 29715 - 34
- 29717 - 2
- 29730 - 47
- 29732 - 65
- 29745 - 12
There are cases in the following Lancaster County ZIP codes:
- 29058 - 4
- 29067 - 11
- 29707 - 21
- 29720 - 73
There are cases in the following Chester County ZIP codes:
- 29014 - 2
- 29055 - 5
- 29706 - 16
- 29712 - 1
- 29714 - 9
This story was originally published May 7, 2020 at 5:18 PM.
