‘Heading in right direction’: COVID-19 cases drop in York County to lowest in 2 months
York County added its fewest daily coronavirus cases in two months, South Carolina health officials said Wednesday.
The county reported 18 COVID-19 cases, which is the fewest since June 19, when 13 cases were added, according to the Department of Health and Environmental Control. That’s also the first time since June that York County has added less than 20 cases in a day.
York County now has had a total of 3,821 cases since the start of the pandemic in March, according to DHEC.
Coronavirus cases in Lancaster and Chester are continuing to decline too. After a spike last week, Lancaster County added 13 cases Wednesday, for a total of 1,377, according to DHEC.
Chester County added five cases, which is one of the lowest case counts added in the county in recent weeks, according to official state numbers. The county now has had a total of 756, according to DHEC.
York County Emergency Management Director Chuck Haynes said Wednesday’s low case count after several days of numbers lower than previous weeks is encouraging.
“It appears we are heading in the right direction,” Haynes said. “Our positive test rate — the number of people who are positive after a test — is also down to about 16 percent from a high of 23 percent. A lower percentage of people testing positive means that there are fewer infections out there.”
Haynes said DHEC officials have told York County staff that the infection rate, and the number of cases, continues to track downward in York County and statewide.
But Haynes cautioned the public to remain vigilant by wearing a mask, social distancing and continuing to avoid any unnecessary trips, travel or exposure to others.
“We are not out of the woods yet,” Haynes said. “The downward trend is a positive, but there are still COVID cases being found in York County and people testing positive for COVID in York County.”
DHEC officials said Wednesday that 704 more people had tested positive for the virus across the state, continuing a trend of declining cases reported in South Carolina. Those cases brought the total of South Carolinians diagnosed with coronavirus to 107,274.
The agency also announced that 17 more people have died after contracting COVID-19, bringing the death toll to 2,248.
DHEC officials last week said the drop in cases in the state is due to fewer people getting tested for the virus, The State reported.
The state averaged about 10,800 tests a day in July, but there has been a steady decrease in August, which is due to fewer people wanting to get tested for the virus, according to The State. There have been days with fewer than 4,000 tests completed, so officials have pushed for more sites to be opened.
Testing and hospitalizations
Another indicator of the coronavirus’ spread is the percentage of daily positive tests. In recent weeks, the percentage of positive tests averaged 18%-20%.
Officials reported that 4,195 tests were conducted statewide, with about 17% having positive results. That’s a higher rate than what health officials reported in March and early April, DHEC reported. In May, at its lowest point, the percentage of positive tests averaged 2% to 4%. Since March, labs across the state have completed 946,826 tests.
The number of hospitalized coronavirus patients peaked at more than 1,700 on July 23 and has slightly decreased since.
Of the 1,168 people hospitalized across the state with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19, 293 are in intensive care and, of those, 164 are on ventilators, state health officials said Monday.
Of the state’s 10,194 total inpatient hospital beds, 2,076 are available, meaning 79.7% of the state’s beds are in use.
There’s even less space across York and Lancaster counties. About 86% of Lancaster County’s beds in use, and in York County, 82.8% of beds are occupied.
Where to get tested
York will continue free testing Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m at Clinton Chapel AME Zion Church, at 302 California Street.
There will be free testing in Rock Hill on Saturday from 9 a.m to noon at Rock Grove AME Zion Church, at 1460 Margaret Street.
All testing sites are free and do not require an appointment or insurance.
Cases by ZIP code
As of Tuesday night, these are the total number of coronavirus cases in the following ZIP codes:
York County
▪ 29704 - 56
▪ 29708 - 382
▪ 29710 - 427
▪ 29715 - 447
▪ 29717 - 17
▪ 29730 - 965
▪ 29732 - 928
▪ 29745 - 423
Lancaster County
▪ 29058 - 66
▪ 29067 - 128
▪ 29707 - 266
▪ 29720 - 971
Chester County
▪ 29014 - 45
▪ 29055 - 112
▪ 29706 - 466
▪ 29712 - 27
▪ 29714 - 60
