| USA TODAY
New cases of coronavirus increased in South Carolina in the week ending Saturday, increasing 18.7% with 11,004 reported cases. The previous week had 9,272 new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19.
South Carolina ranked 42nd among the states where the coronavirus was spreading faster, shows an analysis by the USA TODAY network of data from Johns Hopkins University. In the past week, the United States added 1,184,520 reported cases of coronavirus, an increase of 16.5% over the previous week. Across the country, 44 states had more cases in the last week than in the previous week.
In South Carolina, the worst weekly outbreaks per person occurred in Pickens, Newberry and Cherokee counties. Adding up the majority of new cases in general were Greenville County, with 1,642 cases; Spartanburg County, with 836 cases; and York County, with 831. The weekly case count has increased by 35 counties from the previous week. The worst increases from the previous week’s pace occurred in Greenville, York and Pickens counties.
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The proportion of South Carolina test results that tested positive was 7.2% in the last week, compared to 7.3% in the previous week, shows a USA TODAY Network analysis of the COVID Tracking Project data. In the last week, 153,112 tests were administered; a week earlier, that number was 127,212. Experts say it is important to look at the proportion of tests that tested positive, not just the case count, to get a better idea of whether the rate of new infections is changing or whether differences in tests are playing a role.
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The World Health Organization says that places should be carrying out sufficient tests for less than 5% of that positive result. Places where the percentage is higher may find it difficult to complete contact tracking soon enough to prevent the virus from spreading.
In South Carolina, cases fell in 11 counties, with the biggest declines in Lexington, Fairfield and Georgetown counties.
In the state, 164 people died in the last week. In the previous week, 95 people died.
A total of 205,018 people in South Carolina tested positive for the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic and 4,274 people died of the disease, data from Johns Hopkins University show. In the United States, 12,088,410 people tested positive and 255,861 people died.