South Carolina announced another record number of COVID-19 cases on Thursday, continuing a sharp rise in the fatal virus in the weeks after the state restrictions were lifted.
A record 687 cases of coronavirus has been confirmed, said the state Department of Health and Environmental Health, surpassing the previous daily record by more than 25%.
About 40 percent of the total of 16,441 South Carolina cases have been reported in the past three weeks, said Dr. Joan Duwve, director of public health at DHEC.
“As the number of tests performed increases, so does the number of cases. We expect that. However, this positive percentage rate also continues to increase, which means that we are finding real cases,” she said at a board meeting. DHEC. “The reason we’re seeing a big jump in the past week is that when you reach a critical number, each infected person transmits to two to four individuals, so we will continue to see this rapid increase until we practice what we know will prevent it from spreading. . ”
Greenville County has become a hot spot, with more than 40% of new cases occurring in the Hispanic community, Duwve said. The agency is adapting its response to include contact tracking in Spanish and additional testing in these areas. Part of the increase in the number of cases comes from relatives spreading the virus to each other at home, but recent mass meetings have played a role.
“We are seeing a common spread in family units, but also in other facilities where people work and pray,” said Duwve. “I won’t be surprised to see additional groups related to the (police) protests and I’m pretty sure we saw them after Memorial Day, too, related to people having fun on the beach.”
More information on deaths and tests will be released on Thursday.
Despite the increase in cases, Governor Henry McMaster said on Wednesday that he does not plan to order a new round of restrictions. The number of cases reached a plateau while South Carolina was under a permanent order from early April to early May and close contact businesses, such as hair salons and gyms, and some stores were closed.
South Carolina’s number of cases began to increase sharply shortly after Memorial Day, the traditional kick-off of the summer travel season.
McMaster said that Southern Carolinians need to take personal responsibility for wearing masks and avoiding large crowds to help slow the spread of the virus.
“Be smart. There are a lot of stupid people floating around,” he said. “A lot of reckless and careless activity,” he said. “We ask everyone to be very careful”.
But Duwve noted that some Southern Carolinians fall short. A DHEC official visited two health facilities recently and found that workers wore masks but wore them around their necks.
“We still have work to do,” said Duwve.
In the meantime, DHEC plans to test residents and nursing home staff a second time starting next week, following the completion of a round of testing. The results of the first round of testing are expected to be released on Friday, Duwve said. More than 40% of deaths occurred among residents of long-term care facilities.
Duwve said the agency had completed testing of all residents and employees at the nursing home’s facilities. These results are expected to be released Friday.