Coronavirus live updates: Here’s what to know in South Carolina on Dec. 13
We’re tracking the most up-to-date information about the coronavirus in South Carolina. Check back for updates.
Cases surpass 234,000
At least 234,392 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in South Carolina and 4,387 have died, according to state health officials.
The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control on Sunday reported 2,924 new COVID-19 cases, down from 3,047 reported the day before.
Forty-three coronavirus-related deaths were added to the total Sunday.
As of Sunday, 1,278 people in South Carolina were hospitalized with the coronavirus.
The percentage of positive tests was 21.3% on Sunday out of more than 13,700 tests. Health officials have said the number should be closer to 5% to slow the spread of the virus.
Upstate surge continues
Coronavirus cases in the Upstate region continued to outpace the rest of the state Sunday.
Greenville again led all counties with 491 COVID-19 cases, followed by Spartanburg County with 307.
Over the past four weeks, Greenville County, the state’s most populous county, has reported more than twice as many cases as any other of the state’s counties, the State reported Saturday.
Cases in the Midlands have also surged but have remained below the Upstate’s numbers.
Hospitals prepare for vaccines
South Carolina’s vaccine campaign is set to begin as soon as Monday after the U.S. FDA approved Pfizer and BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine for emergency use late Friday.
Providers in the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control’s vaccine distribution network will receive shipments of Pfizer’s vaccine directly.
But South Carolina has yet to name 15 specific locations that are getting the initial supply of doses. The 15 sites can redistribute vaccines to their “affiliated” locations, meaning there could be up to 56 sites by the end of this week, DHEC spokesperson Laura Renwick told The Island Packet.
The DHEC recently denied a records request seeking the exact locations, saying those records contained confidential proprietary information.
“I don’t know of any state thus far that has released the location names of where those vaccines are going to go to in their limited supply,” Stephen White, DHEC’s director of immunizations, said in early December.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis tweeted that information out in November, and Washington, D.C., released a list of medical centers on Thursday.
“At this time, South Carolina considers providing the specific locations of limited quantities of vaccine a security risk, with regard to the possibility of theft or disruption to the state’s fair and equitable vaccine distribution plan,” Renwick wrote in a statement Friday.
Renwick added that as production continues and the vaccines become available to the general public, the process will be more transparent.
Over 1,000 Lexington-Richland 5 students in quarantine
More than 1,000 students in the Lexington-Richland 5 school district are currently in quarantine, according to data on the district’s own COVID-19 dashboard, The State reported.
The dashboard shows 113 staff members are also in quarantine.
Per policy, students and staff are required to quarantine if they have been in contact with someone who tests positive for the coronavirus.
Of the quarantined students, 617 are in middle or high school, and 404 are elementary level. The majority of the affected faculty — 65 of them — work at elementary schools, and 42 work at upper level schools
This story was originally published December 13, 2020 at 10:23 AM with the headline "Coronavirus live updates: Here’s what to know in South Carolina on Dec. 13."
