South Carolina's COVID-19 death toll approaches 300; 93 new cases reported
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WPDE) — Officials reported 296 coronavirus-related deaths in South Carolina, according to a Tuesday report from the South Carolina Dept. of Health and Environmental Control.
DHEC said there were 93 new cases, bringing the state's total number of cases up to 6,841. The agency also reported 13 additional deaths.
Twelve of those deaths occurred in elderly individuals in Beaufort (1), Berkeley (3), Charleston (1), Richland (5), Williamsburg (1), and York (1) counties, and one death occurred in a middle-aged individual in Florence County (1).
Below are the new cases by county:
- Allendale (3)
- Anderson (1)
- Barnwell (2)
- Beaufort (1)
- Charleston (2)
- Chesterfield (1)
- Clarendon (5)
- Darlington (5)
- Fairfield (3)
- Florence (6)
- Greenville (3)
- Greenwood (2)
- Horry (6)
- Kershaw (2)
- Lancaster (1)
- Laurens (1)
- Lee (1)
- Lexington (11)
- Marion (1)
- Marlboro (1)
- Oconee (2)
- Orangeburg (3)
- Pickens (2)
- Richland (12)
- Saluda (2)
- Spartanburg (3)
- Sumter (7)
- Williamsburg (2)
- York (2)
RELATED: Are new COVID-19 cases climbing or falling? Follow the latest trends here.
As of May 4, South Carolina's cases are trending up again and deaths have surpassed what was expected to be the peak in early April.
"The recent rise of cases in areas around the state is attributed to an increase in the overall testing being performed by providers," an SC State Emergency Response Team spokeswoman wrote. "As more testing supplies are available for health care providers, and as DHEC works to help expand testing in rural and at-risk areas, the number of positive cases is expectedly increasing."
As of Tuesday, DHEC’s Public Health Laboratory has conducted 17,651 tests for COVID-19. Of these tests, 2,350 were positive and 15,301 were negative.
A total of 68,766 total tests by both DHEC’s Public Health Laboratory and private labs have been conducted in the state.
RELATED: Interactive map: tracking COVID-19 cases by county and zip code
*Editor's Note: As new information is provided to DHEC, some changes in case counts may occur; cases are reported based on the individual’s county of residence, as it is provided to DHEC.