Coronavirus live updates: Here’s what to know in South Carolina on July 26
We’re tracking the most up-to-date information about the coronavirus in South Carolina. Check back for updates.
Cases top 80,000
At least 80,856 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in South Carolina and 1,436 have died, according to state health officials.
The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control on Sunday reported an additional 1,170 cases of the virus, down from 1,368 Saturday. Sunday’s total is the fewest daily cases reported since July 7, when 934 were reported. It was also the second consecutive day daily cases declined.
An additional 25 deaths were reported Sunday, down from the record 74 on Saturday.
On Sunday, 15.6% of reported tests were positive. Last week, the percentage ranged from 17.6% to 21.9% percent. Nationally, about 8.7% of tests come back positive.
DHEC did not announce hospitalization information Sunday, saying hospitals are transitioning to a new federal reporting system. On Friday, DHEC reported 1,668 South Carolinians were hospitalized with confirmed or suspected COVID-19.
NJ prison is safer than SC: Judge
A federal judge turned down a request from a New Jersey inmate for compassionate release to his Colleton County home, saying South Carolina is highly dangerous for people susceptible to coronavirus.
“Three months ago, the notion that a person would be at greater risk for exposure to COVID-19 in South Carolina than in a prison in New Jersey was preposterous,” U.S. District Judge David Norton, who is based in Charleston, wrote July 17. “Yet, here we are.”
The inmate, Pierre Morgan, had requested to serve the last four months of his four-year sentence at his South Carolina home. Now, he’s scheduled to be released to a halfway house in September and eligible to be released to home detention in October. He was set to be released in March 2021, The State reports.
He was otherwise qualified for compassionate release. Attorney General William Barr has ordered the Bureau of Prisons to release inmates at risk of dying from coronavirus and, since March, more than 7,000 inmates have been released, according to the Bureau of Prisons website.
Morgan, 30, has multiple underlying conditions that put him at a higher risk.
COVID-19 leads to expected budget cuts
South Carolina budget forecasters say most of the extra money lawmakers hoped to spend in the budget ending June 30, 2021, has been dramatically cut due to COVID-19.
Lawmakers were expected to have $2 billion more to spend this year than last year — the largest yearly revenue growth in South Carolina history. Teachers and state employees were expected to get raises and the money was going to help fix state prisons, The State reports.
But the coronavirus pandemic has caused job losses, high unemployment numbers and a decline in tourism and economic activity.
Now the budget is expected to be cut by $1.2 billion, which would leave lawmakers with about $700 million to spend in the upcoming budget. That could decrease if the economy continues to struggle.
Hospital hits ICU capacity
The 12-bed intensive care unit at Beaufort Memorial Hospital hit its capacity Friday morning, The Island Packet reported Saturday.
As of Thursday, nine people with COVID-19 were in the ICU, four of whom were on ventilators. The hospital has 34 total ventilators.
A total of 26 patients with COVID-19 were in the hospital Thursday.
“We are not sending patients to other ICUs unless they need tertiary care, which has always been our protocol. While the ICU has been at or near capacity, they are not overwhelmed,” hospital spokesperson Courtney McDermott wrote in a statement Friday.
This story was originally published July 26, 2020 at 10:56 AM with the headline "Coronavirus live updates: Here’s what to know in South Carolina on July 26."
