Every day, The Greenville News publishes a new live story with the latest COVID-19 news relevant to our communities in the state. This is our COVID-19 news summary for January 28th. We will update this story only until the end of the day.
Map of coronavirus SC: An analysis of COVID-19 cases by county and postal code
Spartanburg Regional’s gives COVID update:
Near the holiday, the Spartanburg Regional Health System had 258 inpatients. That number dropped to 176 inpatients today, according to David Church, vice president of oncology and support services and chairman of the COVID-19 task force in the hospital system.
“We are going in the right direction,” Church said at a news conference on Thursday.
Spartanburg Regional has conducted more than 160,000 tests to date and administered 14,000 vaccines in phase 1A of the state health department’s vaccine launch.
“We have a large high-volume vaccine center at USC Upstate, which opened a few weeks ago. It’s going very well, ”said Church. “We administer 100% of the first round of vaccines in our distribution every week.”
Church said some are having trouble signing up for the vaccine because they don’t have an email address or Internet access. You can call the Spartanburg Regional helpline at 864-577-4091 for assistance or visit spartanburgregional.com/Sign-Up-Vaccine.
Four counties in the interior of the state carry 36.7% of new deaths today
The state Department of Health and Environmental Control reported on Thursday 2,934 new confirmed cases and 226 new deaths across the state. The agency also reported 145 new probable cases.
36.7% of Thursday’s new deaths come from the interior of the state, one of them pediatric in Anderson County.
- Greenville – 36
- Spartanburg – 16
- Anderson – 17
- Pickens – 14
Of the 9,226 results of the COVID-19 test reported to DHEC, 31.8% were positive.
Greenville County had 481 new confirmed cases of the new coronavirus. The most populous of the state’s 46 counties, Greenville accounts for 10.2% of the state’s population according to Census estimates, and accounted for 16.39% of confirmed and probable cases reported on Thursday.
The cumulative state total is now 387,603 confirmed cases, and there have been 6,235 confirmed deaths. In addition, there were 43,566 probable cases and 668 probable deaths.
Pickens County, which accounts for 2.5% of the state’s population, accounted for 2.5% (74) of the cases announced on Wednesday.
Spartanburg, which accounts for 6.2% of the state’s population, was responsible for 9.67% (284) of new cases, and Anderson, who accounts for 3.9% of the population, for 5.89% (173) of cases.
Prisma will open a vaccination station in Laurens County next week
Prisma Health, along with Laurens County, the city of Laurens and Presbyterian College, will open a new vaccination site next Monday, February 1.
The location, based on The Ridge in Laurens, will be open Monday through Friday from 8:30 am to 4 pm. The large event space, part of the Laurens Department of Parks and Recreation, is expected to vaccinate 1,240 people a week. The Ridge is located at 301 Exchange Road, Laurens.
The new location will offer first dose vaccines, second dose walk-ins and limited availability of first dose walk-in. Prisma Health can offer limited assistance with on-site registration and is working with local churches to offer off-site registration assistance to help people aged 70 and over who do not have computers or access to e-mail to make appointments.
These community registration assistance locations will be announced later. Those without access to the computer can also get help with registration by calling 833-2PRISMA (833-277-4762).
The White House COVID-19 report shows most metropolitan areas in South Carolina, counties are still high in case numbers
The White House released reports on the state of COVID-19 in each state.
Most metropolitan areas and counties in South Carolina are listed in the “red zone”, including the metropolitan areas of Greenville-Anderson and Spartanburg, and counties of Greenville, Spartanburg, Anderson and Pickens, as of January 24.
Those in the “red zone” have between 200 and 499 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants, more than 100% change in new cases per 100,000 inhabitants and have a diagnostic positivity between 15.1% and 20.0%.
The report also noted that about a third of hospitals are experiencing shortages of supplies or personnel. Of the 67 hospitals that must report, 21 said they did not have enough supplies and 25 said they did not have enough staff.
In the country, South Carolina is currently the second in new cases per 100,000 inhabitants, tenth in positivity, eighth in new COVID-19 admissions per 100 hospital beds and fourteenth in new deaths per 100,000 inhabitants.
You can find the full report here.
South African COVID-19 variant found in SC for the first time in the country
The first reports of variant B.1351 COVID-19, which was first found in South Africa, were found in South Carolina.
DHEC was notified on Wednesday by the federal government that a sample of Caroline do Sul was tested at LabCorp and determined to be the B.1351 strain. The DHEC laboratory itself found another case of the variant in samples tested on 25 January.
Read the story
Prisma Health ran a vaccination campaign on Thursday
Prisma Health experts addressed common questions about the vaccine in a city hall on Thursday afternoon. You can find the city hall on the Prisma Health Facebook page.
DHEC alerts community about vaccine scams
State health officials say Southern Carolinians should be aware of scammers targeting candidates for the COVID-19 vaccine. Here’s what you need to know to protect yourself and others from scammers:
- State agencies, vaccine suppliers and vaccine manufacturers will not contact people and request personal information over the phone.
- The only time people should expect to share personal information with an approved vaccine provider is when they make an actual appointment with an actual vaccine provider.
- No one should pay or provide personal information to enter a vaccine waiting list or be promised early access to the vaccine.
- A list of approved provider locations currently accepting vaccine nominations is available on the DHEC vax locator map.
If a member of the public is contacted for a potential scam, he must contact the local authorities immediately, file a complaint with the South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs and report the fraud to the Federal Trade Commission.
A look to the future on Thursday
- The Department of Health and Environmental Control reported 2,621 new confirmed cases and 88 new deaths across the state on Wednesday. The agency also reported 228 probable new cases.
- Prisma Health will continue to provide routine consultations on a limited basis. It will depend on the vaccine supply at each location. Call Prisma at 833-2PRISMA (833-277-4762) or visit the website for more information.
- The South Carolina Institute of Medicine and Public Health and the state Department of Environmental and Health Control announced their 2020 COVID-19 report.
- Students and staff in Spartanburg School Districts One, Four, Five and Six can now apply for free rapid testing at a location hosted in the district through their school nurses if they experience symptoms of the virus.
- Do you know someone who died of COVID-19 this month? Please consider sharing so that we can honor lost lives within the state.