Myrtle Beach area sees its lowest weekly COVID-19 case count in months
For the first time in months, Horry County had a weekly COVID-19 case count below 200.
This week, the Myrtle Beach area had 129 new coronavirus cases, the lowest since May 30, when the county had 57 cases. The end of May was also the start of summer, tourist season and the numbers spiked in the weeks that followed. The highest weekly case data happened in the July 4 week, with 1,521 positive tests in the Myrtle Beach area.
Case data has slowly been tapering off since the Fourth of July peak.
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control released its daily case data on Friday afternoon. Horry County saw an additional 12 cases to close out the week. The county’s total now sits at 9,881. At one point Sunday, DHEC listed more than 10,000 cases for Horry County. State officials have not responded to questions to explain the apparent drop in total cases.
There have also been 184 coronavirus-related deaths in the county since the pandemic started.
The updated figures also come on the same day President Donald Trump announced he and the First Lady tested positive for coronavirus and would enter quarantine.
In South Carolina, there have been a total of 144,366 COVID-19 cases, with 3,211 deaths.
South Carolina health officials have said that case data has been slow this week as DHEC works to streamline tracking. On Thursday, the new case data included only information submitted by testing facilities to DHEC by email or fax.
Individuals with positive tests were notified by their health care provider, according to DHEC.
Horry County data
Since the pandemic started in mid-March, about 53 percent of all positive cases in Horry County were women, according to DHEC data.
About 52 percent of cases were in white individuals, about 12 percent in Black individuals and 26 percent were in unknown/other races, according to the data.
The oldest person to test positive in Horry County is 103 years old.
Health officials have done more than 93,000 COVID-19 tests in Horry County since the pandemic started. Slightly more than 14,000 tests have returned a positive result.
There have been 843 people hospitalized in Horry County with coronavirus, according to DHEC data. Roughly 11 percent of all COVID-19 cases in the county included the patient being hospitalized.
CCU cases drop again
For the second consecutive week, the number of positive coronavirus cases at Coastal Carolina University decreased compared to the previous week, according to the school.
The school announced 14 new cases Friday in the week from Sept. 24-30, all among students. The university announced 27 cases last week, accounting for the first drop in four weeks.
After announcing just three cases for the week of Aug. 20-26 – weekly test numbers are through 5 p.m. Wednesdays – the cases increased to 56 on Sept. 2, 61 on Sept. 9, and 82 on Sept. 16.
The university has registered a total of 306 cases, including 273 among students, since testing began on June 8 when athletes began returning to campus for workouts.
CCU also reported 22 students in isolation for positive tests and 44 in quarantine through contact tracing on Wednesday, numbers that were also down from last week.
The positive test results are the combined totals of all university symptomatic testing – the general student population is being tested only when students request a test because they are symptomatic – regular surveillance testing results of student-athletes per NCAA guidelines, including at least weekly testing for in-season athletes, and positive test results reported by students, employees, and school affiliates.
Coastal is leasing off-campus housing properties in four-month increments to isolate students who have tested positive.
The fall semester began on Aug. 19 with online classes and in-person classes on campus began Sept. 8, though students have the option of either form of learning until the Thanksgiving break.
Approximatley 3,800 students moved into university housing between Aug. 12 and Sept. 4, according to CCU vice president for auxiliary services Steve Harrison, with the bulk of them moving in between Aug. 12-16 and the second wave arriving on Sept. 3-4.
This story was originally published October 2, 2020 at 3:45 PM.
