COLUMBIA, S.C. — As South Carolina sees hundreds of new COVID-19 cases every day, one statistic to keep in mind is the recovery rate.
The recovery rate shows the percentage of people that have tested positive for the virus and since recovered.
As of Friday, South Carolina’s recovery rate is 90 percent according to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC).
State Health officials said in a statement, “We calculate the recovery rate based on the positive cases for which we have illness onset data. We don't have this information for all cases ...”
There are 105,905 confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Carolina, but DHEC only has illness onset data for 48,940 people.
This means they have been able to track these individuals’ battles with COVID-19 since they first showed symptoms. Of the 48,940 people, 1,462 of them have died from the virus.
Of the remaining 47,478 people, 90 percent are estimated to have recovered and 10 percent are estimated to still be sick.
If a patient is hospitalized for COVID-19, they are deemed recovered if nothing negative is reported to DHEC after 32 days of their first sign of symptoms.
People that test positive but aren’t hospitalized are deemed recovered if nothing negative is reported after 14 days of their first sign of symptoms.
The latest recovery rate is much higher than in previous months. In early May, South Carolina had a 78 percent recovery rate. In early June, 82 percent of people recovered. And in early July, 85 percent people recovered.