COLUMBIA, S.C. — For the first time in three months, South Carolina has reported fewer than 1,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases.
State health officials Tuesday announced 868 new confirmed cases and 16 virus deaths.
The last time the daily number of confirmed cases fell below 1,000 was Nov. 16, when 981 cases were reported. Tuesday's confirmed COVID-19 case count is the lowest since 586 cases were reported Nov. 9, according to the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.
Nearly 6% of the 21,315 tests reported Tuesday came back positive, DHEC said.
DHEC calculates the positivity rate by taking the total number of positive viral tests and dividing it by the total number of tests taken. The number of cases is lower than the number of positive tests because some people take multiple tests.
COVID-19 hospitalizations, which have declined markedly since reaching record highs in mid-January, climbed slightly Tuesday to 1,230, but remain more than 50% lower than their peak of 2,466 a month ago.
Since March of last year, the state has reported 428,684 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 7,196 deaths from the virus.
South Carolina counts an additional 61,769 cases, including 45 Tuesday, as probable positives, and another 859 deaths, including six Tuesday, as probable COVID-19 deaths.
DHEC defines a probable case as someone who has had a positive antigen test or has virus symptoms and is at high risk for infection. Probable deaths are ones where the death certificate lists COVID-19 as the cause of or a contributing factor to death, but the person was not tested for the virus.
The state has reported a cumulative total of 490,453 probable and confirmed COVID-19 cases and 8,055 probable and confirmed deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.
As of Tuesday, South Carolina had received 532,550 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine and 438,200 doses of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine.
The agency reported Tuesday that 354,898 first doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 143,194 first doses of the Moderna vaccine had been administered so far. Another 115,292 second doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 37,729 second doses of the Moderna vaccine also have been administered.
Administrations of the Moderna vaccine currently lag behind Pfizer administrations because until recently Moderna shots had been used exclusively to vaccinate long-term care facility residents and staff as part of a federal pharmacy partnership. In recent weeks, the Moderna vaccine, which does not have the same ultracold storage requirements as the Pfizer vaccine, has been shipped to pharmacies, federally qualified health centers and other providers, and its uptake is expected to increase.
Health care workers, long-term care facility residents and staff, and all people age 65 and older are currently eligible to receive vaccinations.
In addition to the 651,000 first and second vaccine doses that have been administered, South Carolinians have scheduled another 454,000 vaccination appointments, DHEC said.
Anyone eligible to receive a vaccine who would like to get one can use the state's DHEC locator tool to find a provider with availability at www.scdhec.gov/vaxlocator. For those who lack internet access, DHEC has launched a phone line — (866) 365-8110 — where operators are available every day from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. to help people searching for information about vaccine providers.
State health officials advise South Carolinians to continue taking measures to mitigate spread of COVID-19 as the vaccination rollout progresses in the months ahead.
DHEC urges anyone who is symptomatic or who has been exposed to someone with COVID-19 to get tested themselves and recommends routine monthly testing for anyone who is out and about in the community, even if they are asymptomatic.
