2 more coronavirus deaths in York County; Phase 1 of Lancaster County reopening starts
Two more coronavirus-related deaths were reported in York County Monday, local officials announced.
York County Coroner Sabrina Gast said in a press release that two patients from the Rock Hill area died from the virus over the weekend. The two patients were treated at a local hospital, Gast said.
Gast said her office now has confirmed eight York County residents have died after testing positive for COVID-19.
All eight of the York County residents who died from complications after testing positive for COVID-19 were older and had other health ailments, Gast said.
The Department of Health and Environmental Control reported one new coronavirus death in Lancaster County and did not report any new deaths in York County as part of its daily statewide COVID-19 death count.
As of Monday, the agency has reported five coronavirus-related deaths in both Lancaster and York counties.
Last week, Lancaster County’s coroner, Karla Knight-Deese, said her office has confirmed five residents have died after testing positive for COVID-19. Chester County has not reported any deaths.
DHEC announced that 14 other individuals died across the state. Based on DHEC’s count, there now have been 346 coronavirus-related deaths in South Carolina.
DHEC also identified 140 new cases of COVID-19 bringing its total to 7,792 cases across all 46 counties. Three more cases were confirmed in both York and Chester counties, and one case was reported in Lancaster County, according to DHEC.
Since the pandemic started, there have been 242 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in York County, according to DHEC. Lancaster County has had 111 cases and Chester County has had 40 cases, according to DHEC.
Lancaster reopening
The first phase of Lancaster County’s reopening plan began Monday. The county libraries and animal shelter are able to reopen and the county’s main library had a good number of visitors.
The Lancaster County library, which has a temporary location on Colonial Commons Court, opened at 9 a.m. and had about 25-35 visitors by noon, director Rita Vogel said. The Kershaw branch will open Tuesday.
“It’s been extremely manageable,” Vogel said. “People are pacing themselves and it’s worked out well, but we’re mostly getting a lot of phone calls, ‘When are you going to open?’ So, there’s a definite missing us here and people really appreciate our soft opening.”
In order to maintain social distancing measures, no more than eight people are allowed in the public areas at one time, Vogel said. Returned items are quarantined for five days and staff take peoples’ temperatures at the door, Vogel said.
“Most everyone I have seen come in is wearing a mask,” Vogel said. “And we just ask people to keep a distance, but we haven’t had to enforce any of that.”
Steve Willis, Lancaster County administrator, said the reopening of libraries and animal functions went well Monday. County officials expect services available to the public to increase as South Carolina officials roll back restrictions.
Deputies to enforce distancing
Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office deputies are planning for the reopening of county sites and handling calls about concerns of large crowds or social distancing, said Doug Barfield, spokesman for the sheriff’s office.
“Our goal will continue to be promoting the safety of people,” Barfield said.
Deputies will continue to respond to concerns from the public as they have since Gov. Henry McMaster enacted, then scaled back, state of emergency rules, Barfield said.
Calls for service have included concerns about crowd sizes at or outside stores to questions about what kind of religious services are allowed, Barfield said.
Deputies have broken up gatherings that were in violation and been able to disperse problems with no arrests or citations, Barfield said.
“We have taken calls daily, and responded to calls daily, since the pandemic began,” Barfield said. “ “If and when a situation comes to our attention, we take the appropriate action.”
Because most restrictions still in place are voluntary, deputies will continue to work with the public to try and communicate safe measures that benefit all people involved.
Some restrictions, such as the number of people allowed in stores based on store size, remain in effect, Barfield said.
“We haven’t had to issue any tickets or make any arrests up through now because the citizenry has been cooperative and understanding when we bring to their attention what the rules are and why,” Barfield said.
Testing and projected COVID-19 cases
As of Monday, labs across the state have completed more than 89,968 tests and in all, about 9% of tests have come back positive. DHEC projected last week that about 81% of those diagnosed with the virus have recovered.
Based on new DHEC projections, about 1,000 new coronavirus cases are anticipated this week. By May 23, DHEC officials expect a total of 9,652 cases reported in the state since the pandemic started.
Gov. Henry McMaster allowed restaurants to open indoor dining services Monday. He also lifted restrictions on close-contact businesses, such as hair salons, tattoo parlors, nail salons, gyms and pools and the businesses will be allowed to reopen next week.
DHEC calculated that there are up to 1,487 unidentified cases in York County based on projections released Monday. The agency estimated Lancaster County has as many as 682 unidentified cases, and Chester County has up to 246 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 Sunday night, there are cases in the following York County ZIP codes:
- 29704 - 2
- 29708 - 24
- 29710 - 35
- 29715 - 36
- 29717 - 2
- 29730 - 50
- 29732 - 71
- 29745 - 15
There are cases in the following Lancaster County ZIP codes:
- 29058 - 4
- 29067 - 13
- 29707 - 22
- 29720 - 80
There are cases in the following Chester County ZIP codes:
- 29014 - 2
- 29055 - 5
- 29706 - 20
- 29712 - 1
- 29714 - 7
This story was originally published May 11, 2020 at 5:51 PM.
