South Carolina adds more than 4,000 COVID-19 cases, 56 deaths on Thursday

South Carolina’s COVID-19 death toll continues to rise as the state’s Department of Health and Environmental Control on Thursday reported one of its deadliest days during the pandemic in the last six months.

The agency reported 56 deaths, bringing the statewide death toll to 10,413. It is the most deaths for any single day in South Carolina since Feb. 19 when the agency reported 67 total deaths for the day.

DHEC also reported 3,259 confirmed cases and 986 “probable” cases on Thursday, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases to more than 707,000 throughout the state.

Of the 27,573 COVID-19 tests conducted, 15.8% came back positive, according to Thursday’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 51.5% of the cases reported were people aged 30 and under.

Children 10 and younger made up 15.6% of the new cases, while 21.4% 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 to determine the variant.

At least 77 deaths— less than 1% — of all COVID-related deaths as of Aug. 20 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 those who died had comorbid conditions.

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 46.8% vaccination rate, one of the lowest in the country.

This story was originally published August 26, 2021 at 11:43 AM with the headline "South Carolina adds more than 4,000 COVID-19 cases, 56 deaths on Thursday."

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.