Coronavirus death toll climbed by 6 over weekend in York, Lancaster, Chester counties
Six more people have died in York, Lancaster and Chester counties after contracting coronavirus, South Carolina health officials said over the weekend.
York County now has had 39 coronavirus-related deaths after health officials announced Saturday that two additional people died from the virus. A resident, 65 or older, died Friday and a person, 35-to-64, died July 12, according to the Department of Health and Environmental Control.
Three deaths were reported in Lancaster County this weekend. Two of the residents were 65 or older, DHEC officials said. One died Thursday and the other died on Friday.
And a middle-aged resident died Wednesday, according to DHEC. The county now has had a total of 28 coronavirus-related deaths, officials reported.
On Sunday, officials announced an elderly Chester County resident died Friday, pushing the county’s coronavirus-related death total to 16, DHEC said.
DHEC officials said Sunday that 663 more people had tested positive for the virus across the state, marking the ninth consecutive day that the number of new COVID-19 cases reported in South Carolina was less than 1,000. Those cases brought the total of South Carolinians diagnosed with coronavirus to 110,658.
The agency also announced that eight more people have died after contracting COVID-19, bringing the death toll to 2,380.
More cases reported
Lancaster County continued a trend this weekend of reporting more coronavirus cases than larger neighboring York County, which has left officials worried.
With about a third of the population, Lancaster County added 58 new coronavirus cases over the weekend, while York County added a total of 55 cases, according to DHEC.
Lancaster County added 39 new cases Saturday, which is one of the highest daily case counts in the county, and 19 on Sunday, according to DHEC. The county now has had 1,491 cases confirmed since the pandemic started.
Cases in York County have steadily declined in recent weeks.
In July, the county averaged about 60 new cases a day. But in the past weeks, York County has reported daily case counts under 40, and emergency management officials have said the county is “heading in the right direction.”
The county now has had 3,947 cases confirmed since the start of the pandemic, according to DHEC.
Total COVID-19 cases in Chester County is nearing 800. The county added a total of 20 cases over the weekend, for a total of 797 confirmed since the pandemic started, according to DHEC.
DHEC officials last week said the drop in cases across the state is due to fewer people getting tested for the virus. Starting in September, DHEC plans to have at least one free testing site each week in all 46 counties, officials said.
Coronavirus testing and hospitalizations
Officials reported Sunday that 4,450 tests were conducted statewide, with about 15% having positive results. That’s a higher rate than what health officials reported in March and early April, DHEC reported.
In recent weeks, the percentage of tests coming back has ranged between 10% to 18%, but it has continued to decline since July, when the average percent was around 20 percent or more. In May, at its lowest point, the percentage of positive tests averaged 2% to 4%.
Since March, labs across the state have completed 954,442 tests.
The number of hospitalized coronavirus patients peaked at more than 1,700 on July 23 and has slightly decreased since.
Of the 1,1026 people hospitalized across the state with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19, 250 are in intensive care and, of those, 150 are on ventilators, state health officials said Sunday.
Of the state’s 10,120 total inpatient hospital beds, 2,211 are available, meaning about 78% of the state’s beds are in use.
There’s even less space across York and Lancaster counties. About 89% of York County’s beds in use, and in Lancaster County, 83% of beds are occupied.
Cases by ZIP code
As of Saturday night, these are the total number of coronavirus cases in the following ZIP codes:
York County
▪ 29704 - 58
▪ 29708 - 391
▪ 29710 - 444
▪ 29715 - 457
▪ 29717 - 19
▪ 29730 - 994
▪ 29732 - 942
▪ 29745 - 432
Lancaster County
▪ 29058 - 69
▪ 29067 - 133
▪ 29707 - 274
▪ 29720 - 1,040
Chester County
▪ 29014 - 46
▪ 29055 - 118
▪ 29706 - 486
▪ 29712 - 29
▪ 29714 - 65
This story was originally published August 23, 2020 at 3:51 PM.
