COLUMBIA, S.C. — At the start of Thanksgiving week, South Carolina reached a milestone in the coronavirus pandemic -- a total of 4,010 confirmed deaths from the virus have been reported as of Tuesday, Nov. 24.
The number of deaths has declined in the last two months after July and August's record high totals. Still, the numbers are higher than the early parts of the COVID crisis.
Meanwhile, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) Tuesday announced the following COVID-19 updates.
Latest cases and deaths (scdhec.gov/COVID19)
- New confirmed/probable total cases: 1,374/59 Summary click here
- New confirmed/probable total deaths: 23/2 Summary click here
Cumulative totals (scdhec.gov/COVID19)
- Confirmed and probable cases: 196,330/12,900
- Confirmed and probable deaths: 4,010/303
- Tests performed for South Carolinians: 2,570,772
Testing opportunities (scdhec.gov/COVID19testing)
- Testing opportunities available statewide: 289
Percent positive (scdhec.gov/COVID19dashboard)
- 10,407 individual test results reported statewide yesterday (not including antibody tests)
- 13.2% 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
As part of the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control's (DHEC) continuous improvement efforts to enhance the quality of information DHEC provides, daily COVID-19 data will be provided with a 24-hour delay beginning Nov. 27, 2020. This delay will allow for more robust analysis of data before it's publicly reported. DHEC's epidemiologists and data analysts will have greater time to review the vast amounts of data and information reported to the agency each day and will have additional time for data validation, verification of death reports, and improvements in processing large data files submitted from reporting partners. This also will allow DHEC's data and medical experts more time to identify and investigate any data inconsistencies or abnormalities.
This transition in no way affects the agency's efforts to protect public health and limit disease spread. Case investigators will continue to attempt contact with all positive cases within 24 hours of our notification of their positive result.
Hospital bed occupancy information will continue to be updated daily without a 24-hour delay, as that is information reported by hospitals directly to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services each day.
Additionally, the agency will not report daily COVID-19 numbers on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day or New Year's Day. Data for those three days will be clearly provided in the following day's report. We encourage all South Carolinians to safely celebrate this holiday season and to remember the importance of mental and emotional health. It's important to take breaks from watching, reading, or listening to news stories and social media, to make time to unwind and to connect with others.