COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina’s Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) released their latest information Thursday. The numbers reflect data that ended a 24-hour period at 11:59 p.m. on February 23.
According to the Key Indicators data page within DHEC's coronavirus site, South Carolina has seen a decrease in the overall number of new confirmed cases, and deaths and hospitalizations attributed to COVID-19 over the past 30 days.
Since January 23, 2021, the total average rate of cases per 100,000 individuals has dropped from 27.9 to 24.6 as the rate of tests per 100,000 individuals has increased from 263.8 to 520.7. Taken together, the increasing number of individual tests completed and the number of positive cases found has lead to a decrease in the Percent Positive from 11.7% to 8.4% over the past 30 days.
There were 921 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the latest data. A record 6,824 new positive cases were reported on January 8. South Carolina had never seen a day above 4,000 before Christmas Day and had never seen more than 3,000 prior to December 9, 2020.
According to DHEC, there is a total of 7,502 confirmed deaths since the start of the pandemic, with 42 additional deaths reported in the latest numbers. The highest number of confirmed COVID-19 related deaths reported in a single day was 93, reported on January 15, 2021. There are also 5 probable deaths reported today, for a total of 941 probable deaths.
Hospitalizations continue to decline with 939 new hospitalizations reported on Thursday, with 223 of those patients in intensive care and 128 on ventilators. A single day record of 2,453 hospitalizations was reported January 12, 2021.
Here are the rest of the day's numbers.
Today's cases and deaths (scdhec.gov/COVID19)
- New confirmed/probable total cases: 921/344 Summary click here
- New confirmed/probable total deaths: 42/5 Summary click here
Cumulative totals (scdhec.gov/COVID19)
- Confirmed and probable cases: 440,517/71,029
- Confirmed and probable deaths: 7,502/941
- Tests performed for South Carolinians: 5,831,435
Testing opportunities (scdhec.gov/COVID19testing)
Percent positive (scdhec.gov/COVID19dashboard)
- 23,810 molecular test results reported statewide yesterday (not including antibody tests)
- 8.4% percent positive
Facility reports
- Hospital data (daily): scdhec.gov/COVID19hospitals
- Extended care facility data (Tuesdays and Fridays): scdhec.gov/nursinghomedata
- Assisted living visitation status (Tuesdays): scdhec.gov/nursinghomedata
- Private, public and charter schools (Tuesdays and Fridays): scdhec.gov/covid19schools
The information above as well as extensive reporting on county-level information, demographics and more is available at scdhec.gov/COVID19. The website is updated between 1 p.m.-3 p.m. weekdays and 11 a.m.-1 p.m. weekends. Visit scdhec.gov/COVID19vaccine for the latest vaccine information.
Additional information and resources