Coastal Carolina University sees more than 50 new COVID-19 cases
Coastal Carolina University reported more than 50 new COVID-19 cases in the last week.
The increase is the largest weekly jump the Horry County university has seen since campus reopened in mid-August.
There were a total of 56 new cases, 54 of them in students, officials confirmed. One new case was in a staff member and one case was an outside contractor. The university has seen 122 positive coronavirus cases since June, according to CCU data.
CCU also has 77 residential students in quarantine, which amounts to 2.3 percent of the residential population, according to the university. There are an additional 51 students, about 1.5 percent of the residential community, in isolation.
Coastal Carolina University hosted move-in day on Aug. 12 and while students have returned to campus, the university is holding virtual classes until mid-September.
The university has an extensive safety plan to address COVID-19. The university states it will supplement contract tracing done by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control to identify those people who had close contact with individuals who test positive.
Those who are in close contact or do test positive are expected to quarantine from the rest of the campus. If a student who lives on-campus tests positive, they will be moved to an off-campus site to be isolated.
The data comes as other colleges, such as the University of South Carolina, report jumps in coronavirus cases on their campuses.
As of Thursday, the Myrtle Beach area has seen a total of 9,356 COVID-19 cases with 178 deaths since the pandemic started in early March. Across South Carolina, there have been 119,822 coronavirus cases and 2,667 deaths.
This story was originally published September 4, 2020 at 8:50 AM.
