DHEC COVID-19 Update: Dept. Will Begin Reporting Probable COVID-19 Cases & Deaths

This week, the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control is beginning to report probable cases and probable deaths in regard to COVID-19. This makes South Carolina the 23rd state in the country to follow recent recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to report this information. A confirmed case is an individual who had a confirmatory viral test performed; A probable case is an individual who has not had a confirmatory viral test performed but has evidence of infection. A confirmed death is someone whose death is related to COVID-19 and who tested positive; A probable death is an individual whose death certificate lists COVID-19 disease or SARS-CoV-2 as a cause of death or a significant condition contributing to death but did not undergo confirmatory viral testing.

DHEC announced 577 new confirmed cases Wednesday and two new probable cases of the novel coronavirus COVID-19, and 10 additional confirmed deaths. This brings the total number of people confirmed cases to 20,551, probable cases to 5, confirmed deaths to 617, and zero probable deaths. Nine of the deaths occurred in elderly individuals, one was a middle aged person. Oconee County confirmed three new positive cases Wednesday, Anderson counted seven new cases and Pickens had twenty new cases confirmed positive.