Rock Hill, Lancaster, York schools added as COVID tops 2,000 students in SC
.jpg "DHEC releases coronavirus case positive test information by South Carolina school.")
Five area schools reported their first COVID-19 cases as statewide positives hit milestone figures.
South Carolina schools topped the 3,000 mark, and students the 2,000 mark, in COVID-19 cases. The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control updated counts Friday. There are now 3,004 total cases, including 2,095 students and 909 staff members.
Those numbers total 253 more cases than the most recent update on Tuesday.
Schools to report their first cases on the DHEC list Friday include Ebenezer and Finley Road elementary schools in the Rock Hill School District, Harrisburg and McDonald Green elementary schools in the Lancaster County School District, and Jefferson Elementary School in the York School District.
Jefferson and McDonald Green have student cases. The other schools have staff cases.
Five more tri-county schools already had either student or staff cases, but reported increases Friday. Chester Park School of the Arts and Lewisville Elementary School in the Chester County School District added their first student cases. So did Bethel Elementary School in the Clover School District. Banks Trail Middle School added its first student cases and King Town Elementary School its first staff case, both in the Fort Mill School District.
The DHEC figures vary from statistics put out by area school districts. Some report active or total cases since school began, some both. Districts often update data more often than DHEC.
Rock Hill school COVID
The Rock Hill district lists both by-week and total coronavirus cases. This week there are 17 new student and seven staff positives. There are 163 students and 44 staff in isolation or quarantine.
To date there are 68 student and 36 staff positives. About 8% of in-person district students (864) and staff (207) have been in isolation or quarantine.
Northwestern and Rock Hill high schools have the most total student cases, with 13 each. South Pointe High School has nine.
Fort Mill school COVID
The Fort Mill district updates its active case list on Fridays. There are 17 student and nine staff cases. Another 307 students, mostly elementary students, are in quarantine along with 53 staff.
Nation Ford High School (5) and Kings Town Elementary School (3) have the most active student cases. Fort Mill High School, Kings Town and district personnel each have two staff cases.
Clover school COVID
The Clover district shows five active cases in its schools. All are student cases. No school has more than two active cases.
The district has 73 student and 28 staff cases since school began. Clover High School has more than half those student cases, but as of Friday afternoon didn’t have any active student or staff cases. More than half of the 40 student cases at Clover High happened more than 30 days ago.
York school COVID
The York district dashboard shows seven active student and four active staff cases. There are 21 student and 13 staff cases so far this school year. York Comprehensive High School (10) and York Intermediate School (5) have the most student cases. Harold C. Johnson Elementary School (4) and York Intermediate (3) have the most staff cases.
Lancaster County school COVID
Lancaster County lists weekly totals. Last week there were 17 new positive cases and 210 quarantines. The district doesn’t list cases by school.
There were three high school and middle school student positives each, and two elementary school positives. Staff positives came from district personnel (4), middle schools (3) and elementary schools (2). Of the 210 new quarantines, 155 were students.
Chester County school COVID
In Chester County, there have been as many positive cases this week (3) as the past three weeks combined. The district online dashboard shows total cases this school year. There have been 24 cases, 15 students and nine staff.
Lewisville Elementary and Lewisville High schools have the most, with five each.
DHEC school COVID data
Of 102 listed schools in York, Lancaster and Chester counties, DHEC shows at least one coronvirus case in 75% of them. Districts range from 67% in York to 90% in Clover.
DHEC lists cases as fewer than five until they reach that number. Nine area schools have five or more student cases. All but one are high schools.
Clover (19), Fort Mill (12) and Rock Hill (9) high schools have the most. Nation Ford (7), Northwestern (6), Andrew Jackson (5), Lancaster (5) and South Pointe (5) follow. Indian Land Elementary School has six student cases.
All those schools except Fort Mill, Northwestern and Andrew Jackson also have at least one staff case.
York, Lancaster, Chester COVID cases
Friday continued a week of high coronavirus counts. York County had 88 confirmed and three probable cases Friday. Those 88 cases are the sixth-highest daily total for York County during the pandemic. The sixth-, seventh- and eighth-highest daily counts all came the past four days.
The 39 confirmed cases in Lancaster County on Friday is tied for third-highest daily count there. The second highest came Tuesday. Lancaster County also had one probable case on Friday.
Chester County had 17 confirmed cases Friday. That number isn’t in the top 10 daily counts there, but is well above the pandemic and even recent averages.
The tri-county area had three deaths reported Friday from COVID-19. Elderly York County residents died on Oct. 21 and Nov. 10. An elderly Lancaster County resident died Nov. 4.
Statewide there were 18 confirmed or probable deaths announced Friday. There have been 4,101 since the pandemic began.
With the 1,448 confirmed or probable COVID-19 cases across South Carolina announced Friday, there have now been 192,101.
This story was originally published November 13, 2020 at 5:08 PM.
