South Carolina sets new milestone in spread of coronavirus

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control announced 3,492 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus and 15 additional confirmed deaths Monday.

This information is accurate as of Jan. 2.

This brings the total number of people with confirmed cases since the outbreak began to 299,685 and confirmed deaths to 5,056.

Of the 15 deaths reported, one person was a young adult (ages 18-34), three were middle-aged people (ages 35-64) and 11 were elderly (65 and older).

Click here for the county of residence and date of death for each person whose death was reported.

DHEC also announced 18 new probable cases of the virus and one new probable death. That brings the total of probable cases to 25,787 and the total number of probable deaths to 428 in the state since the outbreak began.

COVID-19 TESTING IN SOUTH CAROLINA

DHEC encourages everyone who is out and about in the community to get tested routinely, at least each month.

If people plan to travel or gather for the holidays, officials say they should be tested before and after those events to “be positive you’re negative.”

Find testing locations by clicking or tapping here.

TRACKING PERCENT POSITIVE

Percent positive refers to the number of people who test positive for COVID-19 in relation to the number of tests being performed. The percent positive has spiked in early December.

DHEC says the percent positive from the 10,481 tests most recently reported to them was 33.3% (not including antibody tests).

When daily case numbers are high and the percent positive is high, that indicates more virus spread in the community, DHEC said.

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