COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina recorded over 4,000 new confirmed COVID-19 cases for only the second time since the pandemic began, while the percent positive in the state remains alarmingly high.
The state's health agency, DHEC, released their latest numbers Saturday, which reflect data that over a 24 hour period ending on at 11:59 p.m. on December 30.
They show there were 4,219 confirmed cases. The only day in the entire pandemic with a higher total was December 25, when there were 4,417 cases.
DHEC also reported 84 new confirmed deaths, one of the highest one day totals announced ever. Those deaths, however, did not happen on one day: they're spread out over 14 days of reporting, with the most happening on December 29, where there were 29 deaths.
The percent positive of tests was 33.2 percent, again, one of the highest totals seen ever, and means that one-third of all tests completed that day came back positive, showing a high degree of community spread.
Hospitalizations were slightly down--but just barely--with 1,994 hospitalized statewide with COVID-19 illnesses. However, the number of ICU coronavirus patients is at an all-time high of 413. When December began, that number was around 200.
Here is the rest of the numbers from the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) announced Saturday.
Today's cases and deaths (scdhec.gov/COVID19)
- New confirmed/probable total cases: 4,219/130
- New confirmed/probable total deaths: 84/6
[The graphic below shows the number of daily confirmed coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic)
Cumulative totals (scdhec.gov/COVID19)
- Confirmed and probable cases: 283,424/24,942
- Confirmed and probable deaths: 4,968/417
- Tests performed for South Carolinians: 3,703,632
Testing opportunities (scdhec.gov/COVID19testing)
- Testing opportunities available statewide: 280
Percent positive (scdhec.gov/COVID19dashboard)
- 12,722 individual test results reported statewide yesterday (not including antibody tests)
- 33.2% percent positive
Facility reports
- Hospital data (daily): scdhec.gov/COVID19hospitals
- Extended care facility data (Tuesdays and Fridays): scdhec.gov/nursinghomedata
- Assisted living visitation status (Tuesdays): scdhec.gov/nursinghomedata
- Private, public and charter schools (Tuesdays and Fridays): scdhec.gov/covid19schools
The information above as well as extensive reporting on county-level information, demographics and more is available at scdhec.gov/COVID19. The website is updated between 1 p.m.-3 p.m. weekdays and 11 a.m.-1 p.m. weekends. Visit scdhec.gov/COVID19vaccine for the latest vaccine information.
Additional information and resources
DHEC will continue to provide updates on the agency’s webpage, and beginning Jan. 2, 2021, DHEC will publicly announce on its social media platforms when the webpage was been updated with new COVID-19 data for the day.