COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina's health agency has changed the way it calculates the percent positive of coronavirus tests, which will lead to significant decline in that number that's reported daily.
SCDHEC announced the change Tuesday afternoon, which they say brings it in line with the way the federal government calculates it. From now on, they'll now be using the tests over tests method, where you divide all positive COVID-19 tests by the total number of COVID-19 tests (positive and negative) than multiplying that by 100 to get a percentage.
The percent positive is meant to show the number of cases that come back with a positive result: the higher the number, the greater the community spread, the lower it is, that means the virus is closer to being contained.
The agency admits the change will lead to a big drop in the daily number. For example, the percent positive Tuesday was 8.8%; a day earlier, however, it was 21.6%.
DHEC says that does not mean that the community spread is lower; instead, it will only appear lower because of the change in the way its calculated.
Here are the rest of the Tuesday's numbers.
Today's cases and deaths (scdhec.gov/COVID19)
- New confirmed/probable total cases: 1,544/49 Summary click here
- New confirmed/probable total deaths: 32/4 Summary click here
Cumulative totals (scdhec.gov/COVID19)
- Confirmed and probable cases: 400,472/47,432
- Confirmed and probable deaths: 6,599/719
- Tests performed for South Carolinians: 5,026,688
Testing opportunities (scdhec.gov/COVID19testing)
Percent positive (scdhec.gov/COVID19dashboard)
- 25,112 individual test results reported statewide yesterday (not including antibody tests)
- 8.8% 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
