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Nathaniel Cary
| Greenville News
South Carolina is testing COVID-19 less than any other state in the country, according to Worldometers, a statistics website.
As of Monday, South Carolina had tested 17,474 per million people, the lowest rate in the United States, followed closely by Maine, Idaho, Ohio and Texas. North Carolina is the lowest eighth, with a rate of 18,675 per million. Georgia is in 21st place, with a rate of 23,668 per million.
The total United States test represents a rate of 29,307 per million people, according to Worldometers.
The state’s classification on Monday came when restaurants across South Carolina were allowed to host in-house diners for the first time in weeks, and as Governor Henry McMaster announced that he would lift restrictions on close contact businesses, including salons, gyms. and pools on May 18th.
What to know: SC reopening plans compared to White House guidelines
Monday’s order is the latest in the governor’s step-by-step plan to reopen the state since McMaster began restricting daily life in an effort to stem the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
State and private laboratories conducted 89,968 COVID-19 tests in Palmetto State, covering about 1.7% of the population, state epidemiologist Dr. Linda Bell said during an afternoon news conference on Monday. That total has increased by about 5,000 since Sunday afternoon.
Who is Dr. Linda Bell ?: A look at what motivates the South Carolina epidemiologist
Federal partners provided enough swabs and test supplies to test 2% of Southern Carolinians in May and June, or 110,000 people a month, she said.
State officials confirmed 7,792 COVID-19 cases and 331 related deaths.
Bell said there are “a number of reasons” for South Carolina to lag behind other states in total tests. When the coronavirus hit the United States, there was a shortage of test supplies across the country, so South Carolina and other states prioritized prioritizing testing only those who were most sick, she said.
But in the most affected areas, like New Orleans and New York, there were many more people in the same prioritized group, so the number of tests was higher than the total in South Carolina.
Bell also said that South Carolina was unable to reach rural areas with few resources at the beginning of the outbreak. Employees have now created mobile test sites to reach these communities.
The number of tests for respiratory disease has been a source of doubts and concerns since the first confirmed case. State officials noted during the crisis that the lack of test availability slowed the process.
In April, 11 health experts told The Greenville News that South Carolina was not ready to reopen because the state does not have enough tests available.
In early May, state health officials announced an increase in testing, saying the state now has enough tests to expand efforts. McMaster said the Trump administration has made more tests available, which will help the state track and limit the spread of the virus.
Previous coverage: Delayed testing and reporting remains the weak link in South Carolina’s COVID-19 strategy
On Monday, South Carolina health officials began implementing a plan to test all nursing home residents and staff members for the new coronavirus by the end of May. This plan expands testing to 40,000 residents and employees in the state’s 194 nursing homes. These facilities were hardest hit by the virus.
The state health agency also began its expanded testing in early May in rural and urban areas like Greenville, Charleston, Columbia and Myrtle Beach.
Worldometers collects coronavirus information from more than 5,000 sources and updates the data every minute, according to its website. These sources include official government releases, as well as sources from the local media.