Lancaster adds 6th COVID death in week; York County sees lowest daily cases since June
York County added less than 30 new coronavirus cases Monday, South Carolina health officials said.
The county reported 21 new cases Monday, which is one of the lowest daily case counts since June 19 when the county added 13 cases, according to state numbers. York County now has had a total of 3,564 confirmed cases since the pandemic started in March, according to the Department of Health and Environmental Control.
York County held several free coronavirus testing sites last week, and county officials said they expect figures to rise this week after those results come back. Officials said last week they study case trends over several weeks to identify if cases are leveling off or rising.
South Carolina surpassed 100,000 confirmed coronavirus cases Monday after 718 more people tested positive for the virus across the state, according to DHEC. That brought the total number of South Carolinians diagnosed with the virus to 100,431.
Monday’s total was the first time since July 7 that DHEC reported fewer than 1,000 cases across the state.
The agency also announced that 17 more people, including a Lancaster County resident, have died after contracting COVID-19, bringing the death toll up to 1,966.
The person from Lancaster County was age 65 or older, and died Wednesday, Aug. 5, according to DHEC. Based on DHEC’s count, there have been 24 coronavirus-related deaths reported in the county. In the last week, health officials reported six deaths in the county.
Although cases were at the lowest levels since June in York County and in the state Monday, Lancaster County’s cases remained relatively high, with more than half of the 18 new cases reported Monday added in the Lancaster ZIP code area, said Lancaster County Emergency Management Director Darren Player.
“We are not sure if it is a cluster group or ZIP code wide,” Player said.
Lancaster County now has had a total of 1,198 confirmed cases, according to DHEC. Player said cases in counties surrounding Lancaster, such as York and Chester, appear to be trending downward.
“Hopefully we (Lancaster County) will begin to follow them downward,” Player said.
After reporting one of its highest case counts over the weekend, Chester County added six cases, which is among the lowest added in the county in recent weeks, according to official state numbers. The county now has had a total of 668 cases confirmed.
Chester County opened a free coronavirus testing site over the weekend, so officials said the number of positive cases could jump in the next week.
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, 5,610 tests were conducted statewide, with about 13% having positive results, which is around what the percentage averaged in March and early April, DHEC reported. In May, at its lowest point, the percentage of positive tests averaged 2% to 4%. In recent weeks, the percentage of positive tests averaged around 18% to 20%.
Since March, labs across the state have completed 849,117 tests.
The number of hospitalized coronavirus patients has steadily increased since late June and peaked at more than 1,700 on July 23.
Of the 1,353 people hospitalized across the state with confirmed or suspected cases of the coronavirus, 217 are on ventilators, state health officials said Monday.
Only 2,467 of the state’s 11,094 total hospital beds are available. Across the state, 76% of beds are in use and about 12% of beds are in use by COVID-19 patients.
Where to get tested
On Saturday, Affinity Health Center will have free curbside testing at York Technical College in Rock Hill from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., according to a press release from the center. Testing is available to anyone with or without symptoms, the release said.
Cases by ZIP code
As of Sunday night, there are cases in the following ZIP codes:
York County
▪ 29704 - 50
▪ 29708 - 361
▪ 29710 - 405
▪ 29715 - 428
▪ 29717 - 16
▪ 29730 - 895
▪ 29732 - 855
▪ 29745 - 388
Lancaster County
▪ 29058 - 53
▪ 29067 - 115
▪ 29707 - 232
▪ 29720 - 843
Chester County
▪ 29014 - 38
▪ 29055 - 106
▪ 29706 - 408
▪ 29712 - 25
▪ 29714 - 48
This story was originally published August 10, 2020 at 5:12 PM.
