Coronavirus latest: Lancaster adds 27 cases in one day, as 2 more die in York County
Two more York County residents have died as a result of the novel coronavirus, and Lancaster County reported its highest number of new COVID-19 cases in a single day, local and state officials announced Tuesday.
York County Coroner Sabrina Gast said in a press release that two patients from the Rock Hill area died because of the virus over the weekend. The two patients had preexisting medical ailments and were being treated at a local hospital, Gast said.
Gast said her office now has confirmed that 10 York County residents have died after testing positive for COVID-19.
The York County Coroner’s Office only issues a death certificate citing COVID-19 as the cause of death if the person had tested positive for the disease, Gast said.
The Department of Health and Environmental Control did not report any new deaths in York County as part of its daily statewide COVID-19 death count Tuesday. The agency has confirmed eight coronavirus-related deaths in the county.
DHEC announced that one other individual in Horry County died as a result of the virus. Based on DHEC’s count, there now have been 501 coronavirus-related deaths in South Carolina.
Chester County reported its first coronavirus-related death over the weekend, according to DHEC. And on Friday, Lancaster County Coroner Karla Knight Deese confirmed the county’s sixth coronavirus-related death. As of Tuesday, DHEC has reported five deaths in the county.
New cases
In addition to the recent deaths, Lancaster County added 27 new cases Tuesday, which is the highest number of cases the county has reported in a single day, according to DHEC. The county now has had 166 cases confirmed, according to DHEC.
Lancaster County Emergency Management Director Darren Player said he does not have a specific reason for the spike, but he speculates the 27 cases could be related to more testing across the state or a delay in reporting positive results from private labs.
“We have no clue why it went up so high in one day,” he said. “DHEC gives us nothing except a number, so I have no way to verify. All I can say is that there is a possibility that with private labs holding results, they got released in a batch, which means some of those cases may be more than two weeks old.”
In previous weeks, the county has been adding cases in the single digits each day, Player said. Before Tuesday, the highest number of cases reported in the county in one day was 10, according to official state numbers.
Last week, nearby York and Chester counties opened free testing sites and since, the two counties have reported significant increases in the number of positive cases, officials said.
“I have been wondering myself how we could be so low, and all the counties around us were experiencing eight or nine or 10, 12, 15 cases a day,” Player said. “I was hoping it was accurate. But I have no way of knowing for sure. It may be linked to more testing being done.”
Player acknowledged that since South Carolina started to reopen, residents have been less cautious in preventing spread, and he said it’s important that people still wear masks and social distance when in public.
“We haven’t seen anything that we can point to that shows why there would be a spike like that,” he said. “Now, we did start loosening up as a state, and on the weekends, when it’s pretty, people are doing things in their own safe manner. They’re not masking. They’re getting in large groups.”
York County reported seven more coronavirus cases, for a total of 421 cases since the pandemic started, according to DHEC. And Chester County reported four more cases, for a total of 87 COVID-19 cases, according to DHEC.
In addition to the county-level cases, DHEC identified 285 new cases of COVID-19 across the state Tuesday. There have now been a total of 12,415 cases reported in South Carolina.
Testing
As of Monday, labs across the state have completed more than 225,047 tests, and in all, about 6% of tests have come back positive.
Chester County will continue its free testing this week. The site, which is being administered by MUSC, is located at the Back Lot at 139 Cadz Street from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on June 3 and 5, officials said. No appointment is required and people will receive test results within 72 hours, Chester City Council member Angela Douglas said.
Piedmont Medical Center, in partnership with DHEC, is offering free drive-thru COVID-19 testing Friday, according to a release from the hospital. The site is open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and no appointment is required, the release said. Each car is limited to two tests.
Affinity Health Center in Rock Hill is not holding COVID-19 testing in York on Friday due to high school graduation, Anita Case, executive director, said.
Case projections
DHEC officials have anticipated about 1,500 new coronavirus cases reported across the state this week. Based on projections, the weekly number of cases will climb to about 1,700 in the middle of June, and officials expect a total of 16,913 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, and DHEC estimated that 88,670 people have had the virus across the state.
The agency calculated that there are up to 2,586 unidentified cases in York County based on projections released Tuesday. The agency estimated Lancaster County has as many as 1,020 unidentified cases, and Chester County has up to 534 unidentified cases.
Hospitals across the state are at about 67% capacity. Tuesday, DHEC officials said, of the 6,939 beds currently used across the state, 425 beds are occupied by coronavirus patients or those who are suspected of having it.
Coronavirus cases by ZIP code
As of Monday night, there are cases in the following ZIP codes:
York County
- 29704 - 4
- 29708 - 47
- 29710 - 52
- 29715 - 51
- 29717 - 3
- 29730 - 90
- 29732 - 129
- 29745 - 31
Lancaster County
- 29058 - 5
- 29067 - 15
- 29707 - 33
- 29720 - 117
Chester County
- 29014 - 9
- 29055 - 34
- 29706 - 25
- 29712 - 4
- 29714 - 11
This story was originally published June 2, 2020 at 5:44 PM.
