York County adds lowest daily coronavirus case count since June
York County reported its lowest daily coronavirus case count Monday in more than two months, South Carolina health officials said.
The county added 17 new cases, which is the fewest daily cases added since June 19, when 13 cases were reported, according to the Department of Health and Environmental Control.
York County has tallied 4,189 cases since the pandemic started, according to DHEC.
Additionally, a week after school started, Clover School District has confirmed nine COVID-19 cases among staff members and eight among students.
About 18% of those infected with the virus in York County are between 21 and 30 years old, and about 17% are between 41 and 50 years old, according to recent DHEC data
In South Carolina, about 20% of those infected with the virus are 21 to 30 years old, and about 16% are between 31 and 40 years old, DHEC officials reported.
After a spike in cases over the weekend, South Carolina cases returned to a smaller climb. DHEC officials said Monday that 651 more people had tested positive for the virus across the state. Those cases brought the total of South Carolinians diagnosed with coronavirus to 117,333.
The agency also announced that 12 more people have died after contracting COVID-19, bringing the death toll to 2,588.
Lancaster County also added 17 cases Monday, according to DHEC. The county has had a total of 1,611 cases.
About 17% of those infected with the virus in Lancaster County are between 31 and 40 years old, and about 16% are 41 to 50 years old, according to DHEC data.
Chester County now has had a total of 868 confirmed cases after it added six Monday. About 16% of those with the virus in Chester County are 51 to 60 years old, according to DHEC data.
A jump in COVID-19 deaths
No additional coronavirus-related deaths were reported in Lancaster, York or Chester counties Monday. However, Lancaster and York counties have seen a spike in confirmed deaths in August.
Last week, York County added eight deaths and Lancaster County added nine. In August, York County tallied a total of 21 deaths and Lancaster County reported 19.
In July, York County had 14 deaths and Lancaster County logged 7, according to DHEC.
There have been 36 confirmed coronavirus-related deaths since the start of the pandemic in Lancaster County, and 58% of them have been 81 or older.
Also in York County, there’s been 47 confirmed coronavirus-related deaths, and 51% of those who have died from the virus have been 81 or older.
There’s less testing
With 4,177 individual test results reported Monday, the percentage of positive tests was 15.6, DHEC said. That’s a higher percentage than health officials were reporting in April and May.
In recent weeks, the percentage of tests coming back positive has ranged from 10 to 18, but it has continued to decline since July, when the average percentage was around 20% or higher. In May, at its lowest point, the percentage of positive tests ranged from 2% to 4%.
The number of tests completed across the state since March has topped one million. DHEC said Monday that labs in South Carolina have done 1,013,506 tests.
In York County, 40,607 tests have been completed since March, and 13.6% have come back positive. DHEC officials reported that 14,915 tests have been done in Lancaster County since March, with 14% being positive.
Chester County has the highest percentage of positive tests among the three counties. Of the 6,825 tests completed in the county since March, 16.6% have been positive.
DHEC officials said in recent weeks that fewer people are getting tested for the virus. The state averaged about 10,800 tests a day in July, and this month, the number of people tested daily has dipped below 3,000.
Starting in September, DHEC plans to have at least one free testing site each week in all 46 counties, officials said.
Hospitalized patients rising
Hospitals in York and Lancaster counties are filling up.
About 82% of York County’s beds are in use, and 90% in Lancaster County are occupied. There are eight hospital beds available in the county, DHEC said.
Officials did not say how many of those beds were used for COVID-19 patients.
However, the number of hospitalized coronavirus patients across the state peaked at more than 1,700 at the end of July, and has slightly decreased since.
Of the 934 people hospitalized across the state with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19, 247 are in intensive care and, of those, 136 are on ventilators, state health officials said Sunday.
Of the state’s 10,035 total in-patient hospital beds, 2,440 are available, meaning about 76% of the state’s beds are in use.
This story was originally published August 31, 2020 at 4:24 PM.
