‘This pandemic is real’: Chester County has first COVID-19 death; York adds 21 cases
Chester County reported a total of 18 new COVID-19 cases and its first coronavirus-related death over the weekend, South Carolina health officials announced.
The Department of Health and Environmental Control also announced that another York County resident died as a result of the virus. The individuals who died in York and Chester counties were both elderly, according to DHEC.
Chester County Coroner Terry Tinker said the elderly individual who died from the virus was a Chester resident and died at a Columbia hospital.
Both DHEC and York County Coroner Sabrina Gast have confirmed that eight residents in the county have died after testing positive for COVID-19.
On Friday, Lancaster County Coroner Karla Knight Deese confirmed another resident had died as a result of the coronavirus. Deese did not release any other details about the death.
Now, the county has had six coronavirus-related deaths, according to Deese. DHEC has reported five deaths in the county.
Sunday, DHEC also announced that five other individuals have died in Anderson, Colleton, Darlington, Hampton and Marlboro counties. Based on the agency’s count, there now have been 494 coronavirus-related deaths in South Carolina.
New COVID-19 cases
Over the weekend, Chester County added 18 new cases, which is the highest number of cases reported in the county since the pandemic began. Now, the county has had a total of 80 confirmed cases.
Last week, Chester opened its first free coronavirus testing site. On the first day, more than 300 people were tested at the site, which is being administered by MUSC.
Chester County Supervisor Shane Stuart said the county’s numbers are high because of expanded testing efforts in the county.
“This pandemic is real, and the virus requires your focused attention for prevention,” he said. “We can still be cautious with our daily interactions without being in full panic mode. We expected the rise in the positive cases and have attributed this to the four-day testing event hosted by MUSC.”
Eddie Murphy, Chester County Emergency Management Director, said the high number of cases is concerning and should be a stark and sharp reminder to the public that social distancing, mask wearing and proper hygiene remains vital.
“A best practice for people, if they can, would be to go back to what we were doing when this started and avoid public contact if at all possible,” Murphy said. ”We have teens and young people going off to the beach, to pools, and too many people of all ages are forgetting the safety guidelines that were in place before most of South Carolina reopened for business.”
Chester County has two more days of free testing scheduled this week, which means cases are expected to climb again for at least the next several days, both Stuart and Murphy said.
York County reported a total of 21 cases over the weekend — 14 on Saturday and seven on Sunday, according to DHEC. The county now has had 407 coronavirus cases confirmed since the pandemic started.
Lancaster County added six cases over the weekend for a total of 135 cases, according to DHEC.
In addition to the county-level cases, DHEC identified 312 new cases of COVID-19 across the state Sunday. There has now been a total of 11,861 cases reported in South Carolina.
Case projections
As of Sunday, labs across the state have completed more than 206,247 tests, and in all, about 6% of tests have come back positive.
This week, DHEC officials have anticipated about 1,300 new coronavirus cases. Based on DHEC projections, the weekly number of cases will climb to about 1,400 in early June, and officials expect a total of 14,144 cases to be reported in the state by that time.
DHEC officials have estimated that as many as 86% of people who have contracted COVID-19 have not been tested or diagnosed.
The agency calculated that there are up to 2,500 unidentified cases in York County based on projections released Sunday. The agency estimated Lancaster County has as many as 829 unidentified cases, and Chester County has up to 491 unidentified cases.
Recap of coronavirus news this week
Leaders at Rock Hill’s Winthrop University released its plans for the fall 2020 academic schedule, which include several changes due to the coronavirus pandemic. Among them: in-person instruction will occur before Thanksgiving break, and remote instruction will begin after the break for the rest of the fall semester.
Fewer cars on the road during COVID-19 social distancing could have a lasting impact on the roads that get drivers through York, Lancaster and Chester counties. But what’s the extent of the impact?
Lancaster County has plans for the next round of its reopening from COVID-19, which includes the reopening of county offices, some recreation amenities and more.
Coronavirus cases by ZIP code
As of Saturday night, there are cases in the following ZIP codes:
York County
- 29704 - 4
- 29708 - 45
- 29710 - 51
- 29715 - 49
- 29717 - 3
- 29730 - 87
- 29732 - 127
- 29745 - 27
Lancaster County
- 29058 - 5
- 29067 - 15
- 29707 - 31
- 29720 - 96
Chester County
- 29014 - 8
- 29055 - 31
- 29706 - 24
- 29712 - 4
- 29714 - 9
Alex Zietlow contributed reporting.
This story was originally published May 31, 2020 at 4:43 PM.
