South Carolina reports 75 additional deaths, more than 1,700 new COVID-19 cases

South Carolina reported more than 1,700 new COVID-19 cases and 75 more deaths on Thursday, according to the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.

Since the start of the pandemic last year, 12,856 people in South Carolina have died from the disease.

DHEC said the 1,730 new cases reported Friday came from testing completed two days earlier. That brings the state’s total COVID-19 case count to more than 872,000, according to DHEC.

Of the new cases reported, 525 were considered “probable” rather than confirmed.

The state conducted 29,431 tests, with 11.1% coming back positive.

At least 43.9% of the new cases reported were people aged 30 and under.

Children 10 and younger made up 15.6% of the new cases, while 14.7% of the cases were diagnosed in people between the ages of 11 and 20.

At the earlier height of the pandemic between December and February, only 5.8% of positive cases were kids 10 and under.

The highly contagious delta variant is likely responsible for the majority of new COVID-19 cases in South Carolina, according to state health officials. The exact number of delta cases is unknown because only a fraction of confirmed cases undergo genome sequencing, the process to determine the variant.

There have been 298 deaths — 0.013% of all cases — as of Oct. 1 from “breakthrough” cases, meaning the person was fully vaccinated. The majority of deaths — 65% — are people ages 71 and up. About 65% of those who died had comorbid conditions. And 0.53% of all fully vaccinated people have been infected, while just 0.045% of fully vaccinated people have been hospitalized.

Health officials recommend wearing a face mask and getting the coronavirus vaccine to help limit the spread of the virus. South Carolina’s vaccination rate is 52.9%, among the lowest in the country.

This story was originally published October 7, 2021 at 11:30 AM with the headline "South Carolina reports 75 additional deaths, more than 1,700 new COVID-19 cases."

Andrew Caplan

The State

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Andrew Caplan is a watchdog journalist who hails from Florida. He comes to The State Media Company after winning several statewide awards for investigative work covering elected officials, as well as public and government entities. He holds a master’s degree from the University of South Florida.