DHEC: These two York County districts show COVID positive cases in every school
The S.C. health department now shows COVID-19 cases this fall in every Clover and Fort Mill public school.
Clover and Fort Mill are the first two districts in York, Lancaster and Chester counties to have all their facilities on the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control list. The list typically lags behind information each district makes available.
A combination of the DHEC list and district data already showed there have been cases in every York County facility common to both lists. The Lancaster County School District doesn’t list cases by school. Most but not all Chester County schools have been impacted.
Five schools were new to Tuesday’s DHEC list. It shows Fort Mill Middle School and Gold Hill Elementary School in the Fort Mill School District with their first cases. Bethany Elementary School in the Clover School District and Lewisville Middle School in the Chester County School District also are new. The Greenway Discovery School in Fort Mill rounds out the list.
Six more area schools added their first student or staff cases. The Rock Hill School District had Northwestern High School and Saluda Trail Middle School add their first staff cases. Ebenezer Avenue Elementary School had its first student cases. Brooklyn Springs (Lancaster County) and Griggs Road (Clover) elementary schools added their first staff cases. Sugar Creek Elementary School in Fort Mill had its first student cases.
Rock Hill schools
Rock Hill schools show eight new student and 10 new staff cases this week. There are 119 students in isolation or quarantine. There are 38 such staff.
This fall there have been 104 student and 72 staff positives. There have been 1,288 student isolations or quarantines. There have been 365 at the staff level.
The most student positives come from Northwestern (20), Rock Hill (18) and South Pointe (14) high schools. Rock Hill High and Finley Road Elementary School have the most staff cases with six each.
Fort Mill schools
The Fort Mill district updates its case list on Fridays. It only includes active cases. There are 21 student and 13 staff cases.
The most student cases are at Catawba Ridge High School (5), Springfield Elementary School (4), Nation Ford High School (3) and Fort Mill High School (2).
The most staff cases are at Fort Mill Elementary School (3), Catawba Ridge (2) and Kings Town Elementary School (2). Fort Mill Elementary has the most student and staff quarantines.
Across the district there are 384 students in quarantine. Of them, 256 are elementary school students. There are 57 quarantined staff, 40 at the elementary level.
Clover schools
Clover has nine active COVID-19 cases (6 student, 3 staff). There have been 89 student and 37 staff cases this fall. No school in the district has more than two active cases.
The most student cases to date come from Clover High School (44), Clover Middle School (13) and Larne Elementary School (11). The most staff cases come from Clover High (12).
York schools
The York School District lists both active and cumulative cases. There are four active student and three active staff cases. There have been 43 student and 23 staff cases this fall.
York Comprehensive High School has more than twice as many student cases (19) as any other district school. York Intermediate and Harold C. Johnson Elementary schools have the most staff cases, each with five.
Every district school shows at least one student or staff case, or both.
Lancaster County schools
Lancaster County schools list weekly data. The most recent week, ending Nov. 20, had 31 new positive cases. There were 391 new quarantines. Elementary schools had the most student (8) and staff (12) cases.
Chester County schools
In Chester, there were 10 new coronavirus cases last week. The week prior there was a high mark of 15. There have been 49 cases (28 students, 21 staff) this fall.
Lewisville High School has at least twice as many student (10) and overall (15) cases as any other district school. Lewisville Elementary School has the most staff cases, with six.
DHEC school COVID cases
Statewide there are 4,219 coronavirus cases this fall in public and private K-12 schools. That figure is up 8% in a week. There are 2,952 student and 1,267 staff cases statewide.
Clover and Fort Mill both have recorded cases in all their schools. In Clover, all but two schools have both student and staff cases on the list. Other districts could soon join Clover and Fort Mill. York has listed cases in eight of nine schools. Rock Hill shows cases in 24 of 28 schools. Lancaster County has four and Chester County three schools with no cases listed thus far.
Across the tri-county area, 88% of public schools have recorded at least one case.
DHEC lists cases as fewer than five until they reach that number. Most schools to reach that five-case mark for students are high schools. They include Clover (23), Fort Mill (13), Rock Hill (13), Nation Ford (11), Northwestern (11), Andrew Jackson (8), South Pointe (7), Indian Land (7) and Lancaster (5).
Other schools with high student case counts are Kings Town and Indian Land elementary schools (6 each), Sullivan Middle School (5), York Intermediate School (5) and Larne Elementary School (5).
York, Lancaster, Chester COVID
DHEC released daily counts that show area numbers still higher than they have been for most of the coronavirus pandemic.
York County had 121 confirmed and six probable cases Tuesday. Lancaster County had 21 confirmed and three probable. Chester County had 19 confirmed cases, and a probable one.
Statewide there were 13 confirmed and 10 probable deaths announced Tuesday. One was a York County resident. An elderly resident died Nov. 27 and was confirmed to have COVID-19.
York County now has 137 coronavirus deaths. Lancaster County has 65 and Chester County 34 deaths.
