South Carolina began to approach 7,500 confirmed coronavirus-related deaths on February 21.
The state is also investigating 915 deaths as probable deaths from COVID-19.
According to data from the Department of Health and Environmental Control of SC, hospitalizations for the virus have been decreasing in the last 30 days.
State figures
New cases reported: 1,389 confirmed, 343 probable.
Total cases in SC: 436,161 confirmed, 67,988 probable.
Positive percentage: 6.2 percent.
New deaths reported: 56 confirmed, 11 likely.
Total deaths in SC: 7,409 confirmed, 915 probable.
Percentage of ICU beds occupied: 75 percent.
How does SC rank in vaccines administered by 100,000 people?
44 as of February 20, according to the CDC.
Most affected areas
In the total number of new confirmed cases, the counties of Greenville (197), Richland (127) and Spartanburg (111) saw the highest totals.
What about the tri-county?
Charleston County had 105 new cases on February 21, while Berkeley counted 44 and Dorchester 38.
Four patients from Charleston County and four patients from Dorchester County recently died of COVID-19, DHEC reported on February 21.
Deaths
One of the recently confirmed deaths of COVID-19 was a person aged between 18 and 34 years old. Four were between 35 and 64 years old and the rest were patients aged 65 or over.
Hospitalizations
Of the 1,013 COVID-19 patients hospitalized on February 21, 240 were in the ICU and 144 were using ventilators.
What do the experts say?
With 13.8 million shots across the United States, the CDC said in a research report on February 19 that security data is still reassuring.
Everyone who is administering vaccines must report “adverse events” to government health officials. Of all doses administered, there were 7,000 reports of side effects. Nine out of 10 of these incidents were not serious, including symptoms such as headache, nausea, dizziness, chills and fatigue.
“These initial findings should provide guarantees to healthcare providers and vaccine recipients and promote confidence in the safety of COVID-19 vaccines,” wrote the CDC researchers. They added that the system that monitors the safety of the vaccine is the largest of its kind in the history of the United States.
And while 113 people died just days after receiving the vaccine, no deaths were associated with the COVID-19 vaccination.
Talk to Fleming Smith at 843-937-5591. Follow her on Twitter at @MFlemingSmith.