South Carolina has reached 7,792 cases of COVID-19 and 346 deaths after 140 new cases and 15 new deaths were reported by SC-DHEC on Monday. Of the new cases 3 were from York County, 1 was from Lancaster County and 3 were from Chester County.
York County now has a total of 242 cases, Lancaster County has 111 and Chester County has 40. New SC-DHEC estimates indicate that South Carolina may see a drop from approximately 1,000 new cases per week to 900 new cases per week by the end of May. The total number of cases is estimated to grow to 10,493 confirmed cases during the last week of May.
SC-DHEC on Monday began the first of three phases of testing in South Carolina nursing homes. 40,000 residents and staff members at the state’s 194 nursing homes will be tested. They currently have 14 mobile testing clinics scheduled across SC, with more planned in the coming days to increase testing in rural areas.
SC-DHEC also reported 15 additional deaths on Monday. Eleven of those deaths occurred in elderly individuals in Charleston (1), Clarendon (1), Florence (1), Hampton (1), Lancaster (1), Lexington (3), and Richland (3) Counties. Four of the deaths occurred in middle-aged individuals in Fairfield (1), Florence (2), and Sumter (1) Counties.