SC schools add 90 new COVID cases. York, Lancaster, Chester area schools hold steady.
Of the 90 new COVID-19 cases in South Carolina schools since Friday, it’s unlikely the tri-county area had many of them.
On Tuesday the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control updated its coronavirus statistics for schools. The state health department releases new figures each Tuesday and Friday.
Of all public and private schools in York, Lancaster and Chester counties, only South Pointe High School in Rock Hill joined the list since Friday. And South Pointe results aren’t shown in more up-to-date data from its school district.
The York School District still shows no cases. There are cases at Clover School District (6), Lancaster County (5), Fort Mill (4), Chester (1) and three at private schools. But none had more Tuesday than they did Friday.
That picture is incomplete.
The state lists cases among students or staff members as fewer than five until cases reach that amount. The idea is to prevent identification of people who test positive.
As of Friday Clover High School was the only school in the state with five or more cases, at nine student cases. It’s still the only tri-county school with an exact figure ( still nine).
It’s possible some tri-county schools already on the list increased in cases, but remained at fewer than five.
Statewide there are now 622 student or staff cases in schools, up from 532 cases on Friday. The cases announced Tuesday include 423 student and 199 staff cases.
Rock Hill school cases
The Rock Hill School District has its own online dashboard for COVID-19 statistics. That listing updates daily. As of Tuesday afternoon it shows seven student and six staff cases. That’s unchanged since Friday. The district data shows some cases that aren’t yet reflected in the state numbers.
Rock Hill District data shows student positive tests at Northwestern (two) and Rock Hill high schools, Castle Heights and Sullivan middle schools and India Hook and Rosewood elementary schools. Staff positives have been reported at Rock Hill High, Mount Gallant (two) and Mount Holly elementary schools and the district Flexible Learning Center (two).
Rock Hill has 140 students and 41 staff members isolated or in quarantine, but just 10 such students and six staff added this week.
Fort Mill school cases
The Fort Mill School District, too, has its own data. Unlike Rock Hill, Fort Mill updates its data each Friday.
Fort Mill data shows four student and three staff positive tests. All three district high schools — Fort Mill, Nation Ford and Catawba Ridge — each have a student positive, as does Fort Mill Elementary School. Banks Trail and Gold Hill middle schools each have a staff positive, as does district transportation.
York, Lancaster, Chester coronavirus cases
There were more new coronavirus cases announced Tuesday by DHEC. Just not in Chester County, where for the first time since mid-June there were no new cases reported.
York County had 18 confirmed and one probable case. Lancaster County had 12 confirmed cases.
There were two confirmed deaths, both of elderly York County residents. One occurred Aug. 11, the other Sept. 19.
Statewide there were 739 confirmed and 30 probable cases, with 30 confirmed and three probable deaths announced Tuesday. The percentage of positive tests among results back Tuesday was 14.3%.
There have been more than 140,000 confirmed or probable cases statewide since the COVID-19 pandemic began. There have been 3,067 confirmed and 176 probable deaths.
Test influx from Georgia lab
DHEC announced Tuesday that Augusta University Healthcare reported about 15,000 results to the South Carolina agency on Sept. 21. They span from March 18 to Sept. 17. About 2,000 of those tests were positive, which now are reflected in statistics by the date health care providers reported the tests to the lab.
Not all of those positive results are still active COVID-19 cases. They do all involve South Carolina residents.
“Different states have different reporting requirements and mechanisms in place for how laboratories report test results, which has resulted in delayed test results being reported not just in South Carolina but across the country,” said DHEC physician and chief medical officer Michael Kacka. “Many states’ public health agencies are working through these issues.”
The overwhelming majority of private laboratories, he said in a statement Tuesday, are reporting positive and negative tests quickly.
