Coronavirus latest: York adds 100-plus cases, 2 Chester residents die, including child
For the third consecutive weekend, York County added more than 100 new coronavirus cases, South Carolina health officials announced.
On Saturday and Sunday, there were 78 and 53 cases added, respectively, according to the Department of Health and Environmental Control. The county now has a total of 1,881 cases, according to DHEC.
With COVID-19 cases continuing to spike in York County, several municipalities, including Rock Hill, Fort Mill and York, passed emergency measures last week requiring residents to wear face masks in public during the pandemic. The York County Council will also take up the issue and vote on a mandatory mask requirement at its meeting July 20, council chairman Michael Johnson said last week.
Across the state, DHEC identified 1,952 new cases of COVID-19 Sunday, bringing the state’s overall total infections to 56,485. Officials also reported that an additional 10 South Carolinians have died as a result of the virus, bringing the state’s death toll to 950.
Of the 10 additional deaths reported Sunday, one included a Chester County resident, who was elderly, DHEC officials said. And on Saturday, a Chester County child died from the coronavirus, the first child in the state to die of COVID-19, according to DHEC. The child was under the age of 5, state health officials announced on Saturday.
A day later, DHEC announced South Carolina’s first confirmed cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, or MIS-C, associated with the virus.
DHEC officials said two children are the first in the state with MIS-C, a rare health condition recently recognized to occur in some children and teenagers who have contracted COVID-19 or been in contact with someone infected with the virus. The child who died was not one of the two with MIS-C.
Based on DHEC’s count, a total of four Chester County residents have died from the coronavirus.
Chester County reported 12 new cases both on Saturday and Sunday, and now has a total of 283 cases confirmed since the start of the pandemic, according to DHEC.
Lancaster County added 44 new coronavirus cases over the weekend, and has had a total of 642 confirmed cases since the pandemic started, according to DHEC.
DHEC officials have reported 15 probable cases in Lancaster County, which would be someone who has not received lab test results, but has coronavirus symptoms or a positive antibody test, according to DHEC’s definition.
Coronavirus testing
On Saturday, 8,769 tests were conducted statewide, with 22.3% having positive results, DHEC reported. Since March, labs across the state have completed 538,022 tests.
Hospitals across the state are at about 73% of capacity. Of the 7,721 beds in use across the state on Sunday, DHEC officials said 1,472 were occupied by coronavirus patients or those who are suspected of having COVID-19.
As of Sunday, 188 of the coronavirus patients are on ventilators.
South Carolina first surpassed 1,000 hospitalized COVID-19 patients on June 29. Hospitals have seen more than 1,000 coronavirus patients every day since.
Hospitals in York County are at 83% capacity, with 249 beds currently in use out of 288, according to DHEC. And Lancaster County hospitals are at about 46% capacity, with 76 beds currently in use out of 149.
Cases by ZIP code
As of Saturday night, there are cases in the following ZIP codes:
York County
▪ 29704 - 24
▪ 29708 - 209
▪ 29710 - 235
▪ 29715 - 251
▪ 29717 - 9
▪ 29730 - 431
▪ 29732 - 443
▪ 29745 - 217
Lancaster County
▪ 29058 - 20
▪ 29067 - 60
▪ 29707 - 129
▪ 29720 - 464
Chester County
▪ 29014 - 18
▪ 29055 - 52
▪ 29706 - 144
▪ 29712 - 15
▪ 29714 - 35
