COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina surpassed 5,000 new COVID-19 cases on Friday for the first time since January.
Of the 5,238 cases reported Friday, at least 611 were children aged 10 and younger.
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control also reported 31 new deaths, bringing the statewide death toll to 10,213.
As of Friday, at least 77 deaths have been from "breakthrough" cases, meaning the person was fully vaccinated. The majority of deaths — nearly 66% — are people ages 71 and up. And about 65% of the deaths had comorbid conditions.
Of the 36,682 COVID-19 tests conducted, 14.5% came back positive, according to Thursday's report of the data. Percent positive refers to the number of positive COVID-19 tests in relation to all COVID-19 tests conducted.
At least 47% of the cases reported Friday were people aged 30 and under.
Children who are 10 and younger made up 11.7% of the new cases, while 17% of the cases were attributed to people between the ages of 11 and 20. When the pandemic was first starting out in South Carolina during March and April 2020, only 1.6% of children ages 10 and under were testing positive, while just 5.5% of those between the age of 11 and 20 contracted COVID-19.
At the height of the pandemic between the months of December and February, only 5.8% of positive cases were kids 10 and under.
The highly contagious delta variant is likely responsible for the majority of new COVID-19 cases in South Carolina, according to state health officials. The exact number of delta cases is unknown because only a fraction of confirmed cases undergo genome sequencing, the process used to determine the variant.
More than 680,000 COVID-19 cases have been reported in South Carolina since the start of the pandemic.
Health officials recommend wearing a face mask and getting the coronavirus vaccine to help limit the spread of the virus. South Carolina currently has a 46% vaccination rate, one of the lowest in the country.
