SC reaches almost 8 thousand cases of coronavirus in three days

Greenville News and Spartanburg Herald Journal

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 December 5, 2020. 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

COVID case count comes close to 8k in just three days

Coronavirus cases are increasing across the state, reaching a record high of nearly 8,000 cases over three days over the weekend. It’s a new record since the weekend of July 17-19.

On Sunday, the State Department of Health and Environmental Control registered 2,538 new cases and 43 new deaths. The department also reported 51 new probable cases of COVID-19.

Saturday listed 2,715 new cases and 19 new deaths, but it was Friday’s record of 2,470 new cases and 29 new deaths that marked South Carolina’s first time over 2,000 confirmed cases in a single day since July 19, that had 2,335.

More: South Carolina reports a record number of COVID cases, as the interior of the state leads the increase

The state cumulative total is now 216,378 confirmed cases with 4,237 confirmed deaths.

The interior of the state continued to lead the count.

Greenville County, the most populous of the state’s 46 counties, leads the state in coronavirus cases every day since November 6. Greenville was responsible for 441 new cases confirmed in the latest DHEC report, which came Friday. The municipality is responsible for 10.2% of the state’s population, according to the latest Census estimates, and was responsible for 16.24% of notified COVID-19 cases.

Spartanburg, which accounts for 6.2% of the state’s population, accounted for 6.7% of new cases with 182. Anderson, who accounts for 3.9% of the population, accounted for 4.68% of new cases (127) , and Pickens, who represents 2.5% of the population, responsible for 4.97% of new cases (135).

Facebook creates county-level Covid forecasting model to help inform health policymakers

Facebook developed AI-based predictions of the spread of coronavirus at the county level in an attempt to help inform decision-makers about where resources are most needed.

The project, launched in October, uses publicly available data and incorporates tools from Facebook’s Data for Good team, such as its range of motion maps and symptom research, to predict what the number of cases might look like in a two-week period.

Much of the COVID-19 response was conducted at the state and local levels and Data for Good hopes that these insights at the county level can provide a new level of detail.

Read the full story here

Greenville County Schools adjust COVID-19 protocols

The Greenville County school district sent a message to parents on Thursday night announcing a change to the COVID-19 quarantine protocols based on new guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Environmental Control of State. The quarantine period for students considered to be close contacts of people positive for the coronavirus will be reduced from 14 to 10 days, starting on Friday.

The message:

“The CDC determined that approximately 99% of positive cases develop within 10 days of exposure. As a result, starting tomorrow and following this new guideline, the quarantine period for students identified as” close contacts “will be reduced from 14 to 10 days According to the guidelines of the CDC and DHEC, for an additional four days these individuals must carefully monitor the symptoms, maintain a vigilant social distance and wear a mask whenever social distance is not possible, due to the limited staff to manage this system and the number of students impacted, we are unable to immediately review the quarantine period for students who are already in quarantine. We will work next week to retroactively apply these guidelines.

“The CDC has also issued additional guidelines that may further shorten the quarantine period to 7 days when combined with a negative test result between the 5th and the 7th day. Due to the increased risk of spread and the complexity of communication and management of more complicated systems for testing, monitoring and verifying test results, GCS decided not to use this option at this time.

“Note: individuals who cannot use a mask will not be able to use the reduced quarantine option.”

Here is the last Saturday

  • The State Department of Health and Environmental Control notified 1,754 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 21 new deaths Thursday. The department also reported 137 new probable cases of COVID-19.
  • The cumulative state total is 208,435 confirmed cases, and there were 4,145 confirmed deaths. In addition, there were 14,628 probable cases and 231 probable deaths.
  • Of the 7,360 COVID-19 test results reported to DHEC on Wednesday, 23.8% were positive.
  • Pickens is one of the most rural counties in South Carolina, yet it has become one of the state’s leading centers of COVID-19 infections.
  • Seven hospitals in the interior of the state, including five in Prisma, reported a shortage of staff related to the demands of the coronavirus pandemic, although all facilities said they had made internal adjustments to accommodate needs.

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