The South Carolina Department Department of Health and Environmental Services (SCDHEC) reported five new coronavirus cases Monday — bringing the statewide total to 33.
As many expected, South Carolina’s confirmed coronavirus cases have more than doubled since Friday when just 13 cases were reported. Earlier Monday, SCDHEC officials announced an elderly person from Lexington County is South Carolina’s first person to die from COVID-19.
One of the newest cases reported Thursday was another elderly person from Lexington County who was a close contact of the person who died. Officials say this elderly person is in isolation at a healthcare facility.
Four of the new cases are from Kershaw County, South Carolina. Three of those cases are middle-aged individuals who are known contacts with another reported case, SCDHEC officials say. An elderly person is the fourth case reported out of Kershaw County today.
Kershaw County — particularly the small town of Camden, South Carolina with a population of around 7,000 — has been a hotspot for the illness with by far the most cases in the state. Here is a breakdown of what counties those cases are in:
- Kershaw County: 18
- Horry County : 3
- Beaufort County: 3
- Lancaster County: 2
- Anderson County: 2
- Lexington County: 2
- Spartanburg County: 1
- Charleston County: 1
- Greenville County: 1
Cases have been sharply increasing since Friday when SCDHEC announced that tests would be more widely available. 20 of the 33 cases were reported between Saturday and Monday.
“As the state’s case counts expectedly increase, DHEC will publicly report information about facilities and locations that impacted communities should be aware of where special precautions may be needed,” state health officials said in a Monday release.
“We emphasize the importance of practicing disease prevention measures and following recommendations for social distancing to protect our community as a whole,” Brannon Traxler, DHEC physician consultant, said in a news release.
Yesterday, McMaster asked that public gatherings, indoors and outdoors, be limited to 100 people or less. On Sunday evening, CDC officials urged for people in the U.S. to cancel their events with 50 people or more over the next eight weeks.
On Monday afternoon, Trump asked Americans to limit their social gatherings even further to no less than 10 people. Officials across the country are urging people to practice social distancing over the next few weeks to prevent the number of cases from skyrocketed like what happened in Italy.
MUSC and Prisma are offering free virtual care for all South Carolinians experiencing symptoms of COVID-19.
Visit MUSC.care and use the promo code COVID19 for instructions on how to access a medical professional through your phone or computer without having to go to the doctor’s office.
To access Prisma Health’s online care, click here and enter the promo code COVID19.
SCDHEC urged South Carolinians with general questions about coronavirus to visit scdhec.gov/COVID19 or the CDC website here. The agency has also established a coronavirus call line at 1-855-472-3432.
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