Coronavirus latest: York County cases top 2,400; recent report calls SC a ‘red zone’
Following a spike in cases over the weekend, York County added 48 new coronavirus cases Monday, South Carolina health officials announced.
The county now has a total of 2,430 cases, according to the Department of Health and Environmental Control.
Amid the constantly-increasing cases, the York County Council will vote on an emergency mask measure Monday night.
County council member William “Bump” Roddey, who has been pushing for a county-wide mask ordinance for a month, said he hopes that his peers see the need for the mask mandate.
York County had a record 158 positive coronavirus cases reported Sunday after cases have spiked for more than three weeks. Sunday’s cases mark the county’s highest increase in daily cases reported to date. The previous high was 104, which was set on July 3.
A recent internal White House Coronavirus Task Force document deemed South Carolina a “red zone,” along with 12 counties, including York County, based on the high number of cases reported in last three weeks. Since the county has been termed a “red zone” by federal officials, Roddey said immediate action is required for residents’ health and safety.
“I hope with the recent placement that has York County in a red zone, my colleagues will consider the recommendation of mask wearing to curb the spread,” Roddey said. “We need action. There is urgency to act right now.”
Across the state, DHEC identified 1,445 new cases Monday, bringing the state’s total reported infections to 71,213. Officials also reported that an additional nine South Carolinians have died as a result of the virus, bringing the state’s death toll to 1,147.
Chester County added 10 new coronavirus cases Monday, for a total of 366 since the pandemic started. Also, in the last 10 days, four people in Chester County have died from the virus. Based on DHEC’s count, there have been six coronavirus-related deaths in Chester County.
Chester County Supervisor Shane Stuart said he remains concerned about rising case counts and deaths in rural Chester County.
A month before the current spike, Chester was generally seeing two or three cases per day, and some days had zero.
“Any time that cases continue to rise, we worry about community spread,” Stuart said. “Generally I have seen more mask usage out in the community. Maybe more people are taking it as seriously as we wanted them to.”
Stuart has raised the idea of county officials exploring a mask mandate, but so far no other members of the Chester County Council have expressed a willingness to put the idea up for discussion or a vote, Stuart said.
Lancaster County added 13 new coronavirus cases over the weekend, according to DHEC. The county has had a total of 758 confirmed cases, according to DHEC.
Testing and hospitalizations
The percentage of tests that come back positive — another indicator of the coronavirus’ spread — has been rising over the last month, according to DHEC officials.
On Sunday, 8,186 tests were conducted statewide, with about 18% having positive results, DHEC reported. In May, at its lowest point, the percentage of positive tests fell between 2% and 4% on average.
Since March, labs across the state have completed 638,194 tests.
There will be free testing sites open in York, Lancaster and Chester counties Tuesday. Coronavirus testing will be available at the Kenneth Monroe Transformation Center in Rock Hill from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. In Chester, testing will be available at Chester High School from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. Testing will be open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Lancaster Health Department.
Free testing will also be available at Edinport Elementary School in Rock Hill from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday. S.C. Rep. Gary Simrill and S.C. Sen. Wes Climer organized the drive-up site in partnership with the Medical University of South Carolina.
South Carolina has seen a record number of hospitalized coronavirus patients nearly every day in July. Hospitals in York County are at 79% capacity, with 244 of the 288 beds currently in use, according to DHEC. And Lancaster County hospitals are at about 47% capacity, with 70 of 149 beds currently in use.
DHEC is transitioning to a new health care data reporting system, so information on the state’s hospital capacity and the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients was not available Monday.
Cases by ZIP code
As of Sunday night, there are cases in the following ZIP codes:
York County
▪ 29704 - 35
▪ 29708 - 269
▪ 29710 - 292
▪ 29715 - 297
▪ 29717 - 10
▪ 29730 - 567
▪ 29732 - 599
▪ 29745 - 261
Lancaster County
▪ 29058 - 27
▪ 29067 - 69
▪ 29707 - 167
▪ 29720 - 528
Chester County
▪ 29014 - 27
▪ 29055 - 57
▪ 29706 - 202
▪ 29712 - 19
▪ 29714 - 41
This story was originally published July 20, 2020 at 4:16 PM.
