FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
July 23, 2020

 

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) today announced 1,538 new confirmed cases and five new probable cases of the novel coronavirus COVID-19, 49 additional confirmed deaths and no new probable deaths.

This brings the total number of confirmed cases to 76,315, probable cases to 291, confirmed deaths to 1,294, and 40 probable deaths.

Two additional cases are reported of Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) associated with COVID-19. Both are children age 10 or under from the Upstate region. This brings the total number of MIS-C cases in South Carolina to four. Learn more about MIS-C here.

Confirmed and probable cases: please click here.

Confirmed and probable deaths: please click here. 

Testing in South Carolina
As of yesterday, a total of 669,445 tests have been conducted in the state. See a detailed breakdown of tests in South Carolina on the Data and Projections webpage. DHEC’s Public Health Laboratory is operating extended hours and is testing specimens seven days a week, and the Public Health Laboratory’s current timeframe for providing results to health care providers is 24-48 hours.

Percent Positive Test Trends among Reported COVID-19 Cases
The total number of individual test results reported to DHEC yesterday statewide was 7,360 (not including antibody tests) and the percent positive was 20.9%.

More than 65 Mobile Testing Clinics Scheduled Statewide
As part of our ongoing efforts to increase testing in underserved and rural communities across the state, DHEC is working with community partners to set up mobile testing clinics that bring testing to these communities. Currently, there are 67 mobile testing events scheduled through August 15 with new testing events added regularly. Find a mobile testing clinic event near you at scdhec.gov/covid19mobileclinics.

Residents can also get tested at one of 182 permanent COVID-19 testing facilities across the state. Visit scdhec.gov/covid19testing for more information.

Hospital Bed Occupancy
Today’s news release includes the first hospital reporting using the new TeleTracking system. As hospitals acclimate to this new federally required reporting system, the accuracy of the data is expected to improve. 

*DHEC is aware that at least one hospital system had an issue in reporting data in the new system, which should be corrected in its reporting for tomorrow. 

Based on today’s TeleTracking report, as of yesterday:

• 4,425* total hospital beds are available and 7,998* are in use; a 64.38%* statewide total hospital bed utilization rate 
• Of the 7,998 total beds currently used, 1,723* are occupied by patients who have either tested positive or are under investigation for COVID-19
• Of 1,458 ventilators, 532 are in use and 241 of those are COVID-19 patients

Per federal requirements, hospitals are actively transitioning between the systems used for reporting hospital bed and ICU occupancy, ventilator usage, patients hospitalized with COVID-19 and other key information. DHEC issued a Public Health Order supporting this transition on July 15, the day after the federal announcement was made that hospitals will transition from using the CDC's National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) to the TeleTracking system.

*As new information is provided to the department, some changes in cases may occur. Cases are reported based on the person’s county of residence, as it is provided to the department. DHEC’s COVID-19 map will adjust to reflect any reclassified cases.

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