6th Lancaster County resident dies from COVID-19 in a week, York cases climb by 50-plus
South Carolina health officials announced Thursday that another Lancaster County resident died after contracting the coronavirus, which marks the sixth death in the last seven days.
The individual, 65 or older, died Tuesday, Department of Health and Environmental Control officials said. There’s been 38 confirmed coronavirus-related deaths in Lancaster County since March, DHEC said.
Thursday, York County added 53 new cases, which is one of the higher case counts reported in recent weeks. Lancaster County added 17, and Chester County added 11, continuing the trend of declining case counts in the counties.
DHEC officials said Thursday that 1,084 more people had tested positive for the virus across the state, which marks the third day in the last two weeks that South Carolina has reported more than 1,000 new cases in a day. Those cases brought the total of South Carolinians diagnosed with coronavirus to 119,822.
The agency also announced that 12 more people have died after contracting COVID-19, including the Lancaster County resident. The statewide death toll is now 2,667.
How are coronavirus cases trending?
York County
York County has a “moderate” incidence rate, based on DHEC’s definition. The two-week cumulative incidence rate displays new cases reported in the last two weeks per 100,000 people.
In the last two weeks, the county has added 510 cases. It has an incidence rate of 181.5 per 100,000 people, according to DHEC.
In July, York County averaged about 60 coronavirus cases a day. In August, the county averaged about 37 cases.
Officials have maintained that the county is moving in the “right direction” but have insisted that residents follow social distancing guidelines and wear masks in public.
Lancaster County
Lancaster County has a “moderately high” incidence rate, based on DHEC’s definition.
In the last two weeks, the county has added 252 cases. It has an incidence rate of 257.1 per 100,000 people, according to DHEC.
Lancaster County’s daily case average went up in August. It averaged about 17 daily cases in July and about 19 in August.
Chester County
Chester County has a “high” incidence rate, based on DHEC’s definition.
In the last two weeks, the county has added 126 cases. It has an incidence rate of 390.8 per 100,000 people, according to DHEC.
Chester County’s case average stayed the same in August. It averaged about 11 daily cases in July and in August.
South Carolina
The number of daily new cases reported in South Carolina hit a high of 2,343 on July 18. In the month since, totals have slowly dropped. Daily case counts dropped to under 1,000 for 13 consecutive days, before a spike this past weekend.
Who is getting the virus?
York County
Of the 4,333 people who have been infected with the virus in York County, the highest percentage is reported among the younger age group. About 18.4% with the virus in York County have been ages 21-30.
The next highest percentage is reported among people ages 41-50. About 16.7% have been in that age range, according to DHEC data.
Lancaster County
Lancaster County follows a similar trend as York County. Of the 1,650 people who have tested positive for the virus in the county, the highest percentage is reported among people ages 31-40. About 16.5% with the virus are in that age range.
The next highest percentage is reported among people ages 41-50, according to DHEC. About 15.7% have been in that age range.
Chester County
Of the 892 people who have tested positive for the virus, the highest percentage is reported among people ages 51-60, according to DHEC data. About 16.6% with the virus in Chester County are in that age range.
The next highest percentage is reported among people ages 41-50. About 15.3% with the virus have been in the age range, according to the data.
South Carolina
Younger people are getting the virus across the state. About 20% of those infected in South Carolina have been ages 21-30, according to DHEC.
The next highest percentage is reported among people ages 31-40, with about 16%, according to DHEC.
All three counties trend similar to statewide data.
How many people have died from the virus?
York County
The numbers of reported coronavirus-related deaths went up significantly in York County in August. Last week, York County added eight deaths. The county has tallied 48 confirmed (and one probable) deaths.
In June, the county had four deaths. In July, it had 14. And in August, York County had 21 deaths. So far in September, the county has reported one.
People in York County who are 81 or older make up less than 3% of those reported to have had the virus, but 50% of those who have died from it.
Lancaster County
Reported COVID-19 deaths also went up in Lancaster County in August. Last week, the county confirmed nine deaths. The county has tallied 38 confirmed and three probable deaths since the pandemic started.
In June, the county had eight deaths. In July, it had seven deaths. And in August, Lancaster County had 19 deaths. So far in September, the county has reported one death.
People in Lancaster County who are 81 or older make up less than 7% of those reported to have had the virus, but 57.5% of those who have died from it.
Chester County
Chester County has had 17 confirmed (and one probable) deaths since March. In August, the county reported the highest number of deaths with seven.
Most of the those who die from the virus in the county are similar to that of other counties. In the county, 50% of those who have died from it have been 81 or older.
South Carolina
The number of reported coronavirus-related deaths across the state peaked on July 25, when 72 deaths were announced. The state has not reported more than 70 deaths in one day since, but the daily toll has stayed in the double digits.
Similar to the three counties, 39% of those who have died from the virus in the state have been 81 or older.
The statewide COVID-19 death toll is now 2,6XX, according to DHEC.
How many people are getting tested?
The percent positive, an indication of how widespread the virus is, represents the percentage of all coronavirus tests performed that are actually positive.
The percentage will be high if the number of positive tests is high or the number of total tests is too low, DHEC officials said.
York County
Since March, 41,626 people have been tested for the virus in York County, with about 13.7% of those positive.
York County’s percent positive was highest in July, with 16.5% of the 13,683 tests coming back positive. However in August, fewer tests were done. About 12.8% of the 10,158 were positive, according to DHEC.
The percent was lowest in May, with 6.1% of 6,322 tests being positive, according to DHEC.
Lancaster County
DHEC officials reported that 15,183 tests have been done in Lancaster County since March, with 14.1% of those positive.
Lancaster County’s percent positive was highest in August, with 20% of the 3,494 tests coming back positive. However in July, more tests were done. About 13.5% of the 4,750 were positive then, according to DHEC.
The percent was lowest in May, with 4.7% of the 2,174 tests being positive, according to DHEC.
Chester County
Chester County, with about 33,000 people, has administered the fewest coronavirus tests of the three counties. But it has the highest percentage of positive tests.
Since March, 6,941 Chester County residents have tested, with 16.8% of those tests coming back positive.
Chester County’s percent positive was highest in July, with 22.5% of the 1,886 tests coming back positive. However in August, fewer tests were done. About 22.2% of the 1,715 tests were positive then, according to DHEC.
The percent was lowest in May, with 7.7% of the 1,335 tests being positive that month, according to DHEC.
South Carolina
With 6,560 individual test results reported Thursday, the percentage of positive tests was 16.5%, DHEC said.
In recent weeks, the percentage of tests coming back positive has ranged from 10% to 18%. 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 in South Carolina ranged from 2% to 4%.
The number of tests completed across the state since March has topped one million. Labs in South Carolina have done 1,033,762 tests.
Despite the high total, DHEC officials said in recent weeks fewer people are getting tested.
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.
How full are the hospitals?
York County
Hospitals in York County are at 87.8% occupation, according to a DHEC report. There’s 35 beds available of the 288 total beds.
DHEC officials did not say how many of those beds were used for COVID-19 patients.
Lancaster County
Hospitals in Lancaster County are at 79.5% capacity, according to DHEC. Of the 83 total beds in the county, 17 are available, according to DHEC.
DHEC officials did not say how many of those beds were used for COVID-19 patients. Officials said the pandemic has caused more patients to enter the hospitals, but the higher bed occupation percentages are not abnormal.
Chester County
The county closed its inpatient unit early on in the pandemic, officials said. Patients are transferred to Lancaster County and other surrounding counties, officials said.
South Carolina
There are 911 patients hospitalized across the state with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19. Of those, 235 are in intensive care and 145 are on ventilators, state health officials said Thursday.
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 state’s 10,132 total in-patient hospital beds, 1,709 are available. So, about 83.1% of the state’s beds are in use.
How has the pandemic impacted unemployment?
On Thursday morning the state Department of Employment and Workforce released new data on initial unemployment claims. Claims continue their decline since spring high marks, when coronavirus distancing measures shut down or altered many businesses.
“We have reached a new low in weekly initial claims filed since the pandemic began in mid-March,” department executive director Dan Ellzey said in a statement with the release. “As the numbers continue to decline, it’s logically expected that the downward trend week-over-week will become less significant as the economy continues to improve.”
Figures in York, Lancaster and Chester counties show general decline but can uptick for a week at a time. York County claims rose slightly for the week ending Aug. 29, to 191 claims. Lancaster had 57 and Chester 36 claims, both down from the prior week.
To date there have been 38,526 initial unemployment claims filed in the tri-county area since mid-March. There have been 25,598 claims in York County. Lancaster County has 8,422 claims, and Chester County has 4,506 claims.
Across South Carolina, the week ending Aug. 29 saw 5,019 unemployment claims. In the last 24 weeks, there have been more than 730,000 claims statewide. More than $3.9 billion in state and federal benefits have been paid to South Carolina residents.
