SC adds 3,600 new COVID-19 cases, 10 deaths

South Carolina added more than 3,600 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, bringing the statewide total just shy of 700,000 cases.

The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control on Tuesday reported 3,121 confirmed cases and 527 “probable” cases.

The agency also reported 10 new deaths, bringing the statewide death toll to 10,324.

As of Tuesday, at least 77 deaths have been from “breakthrough” cases, meaning the person was fully vaccinated. The majority of deaths — 65% — are people ages 71 and up. And about 65% of the deaths had comorbid conditions.

Of the 25,168 COVID-19 tests conducted, 16.2% came back positive, according to Tuesday’s report of the data. Percent positive refers to the number of positive COVID-19 tests in relation to all COVID-19 tests conducted.

At least 47.6% of the cases reported were people aged 30 and under.

Children who are 10 and younger made up 13.3% of the new cases, while 17.5% of the cases were attributed to people between the ages of 11 and 20. When the pandemic was first starting out in South Carolina during March and April 2020, only 1.6% of children ages 10 and under were testing positive, while just 5.5% of those between the age of 11 and 20 contracted COVID-19.

At the height of the pandemic between the months of December and February, only 5.8% of positive cases were kids 10 and under.

The highly contagious delta variant is likely responsible for the majority of new COVID-19 cases in South Carolina, according to state health officials. The exact number of delta cases is unknown because only a fraction of confirmed cases undergo genome sequencing, the process used to determine the variant.

More than 699,000 COVID-19 cases have been reported in South Carolina since the start of the pandemic.

Health officials recommend wearing a face mask and getting the coronavirus vaccine to help limit the spread of the virus. South Carolina currently has a 46.6% vaccination rate, one of the lowest in the country.

This story was originally published August 24, 2021 at 2:21 PM with the headline "SC adds 3,600 new COVID-19 cases, 10 deaths."

Andrew Caplan

The State

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Andrew Caplan is a watchdog journalist who hails from Florida. He comes to The State Media Company after winning several statewide awards for investigations on elected officials and government entities. He holds a master’s degree from the University of South Florida.