COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina has once again broken its single-day and weekly records for the most coronavirus cases over the weekend.
It's the fourth time the state has set record single-day highs in under two weeks and the second straight week of breaking the weekly total record with 86,639 cases.
The state Department of Health and Environmental Control released three days of COVID-19 data on Monday showing that 16,630 cases were reported for Saturday. The following day, Sunday, the Palmetto State recorded its second-highest all-time case count, with 15,234 cases and 30 deaths. DHEC also reported 12,827 cases and 12 deaths for Monday.
Before the string of high case counts, South Carolina held a record of 7,687 single-day cases on Jan. 6, 2021 for nearly a full year. State health and CDC officials say the new omicron variant is to blame for the spike, making up 95% of all new cases around the country.
In the days prior to Thanksgiving, the state averaged fewer than 600 new cases per day, which included a low of 259 cases on Nov. 24, and no days over 1,000 cases. Since then, there has been a surge to more than 12,300 new cases per day — the highest at any point during the pandemic.
The recent explosion in new coronavirus infections across the state is coinciding with extremely long wait times at some COVID-19 testing sites, a shortage of at-home tests available at some pharmacies, and delays for many people awaiting their test results.
Of the 16,630 new cases reported for Saturday, at least 3,634 were listed as "probable" rather than confirmed.
The weekend's near 45,000 new cases brings the state's total COVID-19 cases to more than 1,094,000 since March 2020. The state health department says cases reported come from testing completed two days earlier.
About 44% of the new cases were people age 30 and under. Children 10 and younger made up 9.2% of the new cases, while 15.1% of the cases were diagnosed in people between the ages of 11-20. At the earlier height of the pandemic between December 2019 and February 2020, only 5.8% of positive cases were kids 10 and under.
But while case counts are up, the death rate is lower than at some earlier points in the pandemic.
The 47 new deaths reported Monday bring the statewide death toll to 14,793. At least 385 people have died of COVID-19 in South Carolina over the past month, the lowest monthly total since August.
DHEC officials have recommended that all eligible children ages 12 and up receive a booster Pfizer vaccine five months after their second dose to become "maximally vaccinated." Pfizer boosters were previously recommended for children ages 16 and up. All eligible adults who are fully vaccinated — two shots — are encouraged to get booster vaccines as well to help fight off the virus, as the vast majority of the new cases are people who are unvaccinated.
There have been 566 deaths — 0.0223% of all cases — as of Jan. 7 from "breakthrough" cases, meaning an infected person is fully vaccinated with at least two doses. The majority of deaths — 59% — are people age 71 and up. About 61.5% of those who died had comorbid conditions. An estimated 1.2641% of all fully vaccinated people have been infected, while nearly 0.0726% of fully vaccinated people have been hospitalized.
Health officials recommend wearing a face mask and getting the coronavirus vaccine to help limit the spread of the virus.
South Carolina has one of the the country's lowest rates of full vaccination status — people with two vaccine shots — among its eligible population, at an estimated 52%.
