FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
July 24, 2020

 

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) today announced 1,921 new confirmed cases and eight new probable cases of the novel coronavirus COVID-19, 46 additional confirmed deaths and seven new probable deaths.

This brings the total number of confirmed cases to 78,298, probable cases to 309, confirmed deaths to 1,339, and 46 probable deaths.

One additional case is reported of Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) associated with COVID-19. The child is under the age of 10 from the Upstate region. This brings the total number of MIS-C cases in South Carolina to five. 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 680,947 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 8,877 (not including antibody tests) and the percent positive was 21.6%.

75 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 75 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
As hospitals acclimate to the new federally required TeleTracking reporting system, the accuracy of the data provided by hospitals is expected to improve.  

*DHEC is aware that at least two hospitals that had an issue in reporting data in the new system yesterday. Those issues should be corrected in tomorrow’s reporting.

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

• *Total hospital beds (inpatient and outpatient beds): 4,744 available; 8,654 are in use; 64.59% occupancy rate
• *Inpatient hospital beds: 3,027 available; 8,082 are in use; 72.75% occupancy rate
• *Hospital beds occupied by patients who have either tested positive or are under investigation for COVID-19: 1,668*
• Total ventilators: 1,651; 602 in use, including 263 by 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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