South Carolina logged 297 new cases of the coronavirus on Monday and reported six new deaths.
Across the state, 12,148 people have now tested positive for the virus, while 500 people have died.
The six newly deceased patients were people above the age of 65 from Colleton, Fairfield, Horry and Lexington counties.
South Carolina logged 297 new cases of the coronavirus on Monday and reported six new deaths.https://t.co/MjKk1k4gdp
— The Post and Courier (@postandcourier) June 1, 2020
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) today announced 156 new cases of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 and 4 additional deaths.
This brings the total number of people confirmed to have COVID-19 in South Carolina to 10,788 and those who have died to 470.
The deaths occurred in 4 elderly individuals from Chesterfield (1), Fairfield (1), Greenville (1), and York (1) counties.
DHEC today announced 156 new cases of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 and 4 additional deaths.
This brings the total number of people confirmed to have COVID-19 in South Carolina to 10,788 and those who have died to 470. https://t.co/4HppaztQNO
— SCDHEC (@scdhec) May 28, 2020
Well, Judy, what’s happening right now — and we were just at a meeting down at the White House yesterday, one of our meetings, where we went over with several of the governors the kinds of things that are in place. The testing is getting better and better and better.
I mean, I have always been publicly skeptical about that. But, right now, what I’m seeing is that the kinds of testing availability is getting better and better. And, as the weeks go by, I believe strongly that we’re going to be able to address that.
But you make a very good point. When I see some of those pictures of how people are congregating, at a time when there are still infections around, that’s not prudent, and that people need to really take a step back and look at that.
I mean, everybody wants to see us get back to some sort of normality. Everybody wants to open up the country, including an economic rebound. But we need to be really careful that we don’t do it in a way that is, in some respects, stepping over the prudent steps.
Dr. Anthony Fauci joins @JudyWoodruff to discuss the country’s “terrible ordeal,” how we can contain the virus moving forward and why he is cautiously optimistic about a vaccine.https://t.co/OG30n9tiaJ
— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) May 28, 2020
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) today announced 207 new cases of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 and 20 additional deaths.
This brings the total number of people confirmed to have COVID-19 in South Carolina to 10,623 and those who have died to 466.
The deaths occurred in 17 elderly individuals from Beaufort (1), Charleston (1), Colleton (2), Darlington (1), Fairfield (3), Florence (1), Horry (2), Lee (1), Orangeburg (1), Richland (3), and Spartanburg (1) counties, and three middle-aged individuals from Beaufort (1), Colleton (1), and Lee (1) counties.
DHEC today announced 207 new cases of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 and 20 additional deaths.
This brings the total number of people confirmed to have COVID-19 in South Carolina to 10,623 and those who have died to 466. https://t.co/oMy8re3Cx5
— SCDHEC (@scdhec) May 27, 2020
As diners’ opinions on the suitability of masks for restaurant settings this weekend hardened into bayonets to aim at their opposite number, the founder of a Facebook group which has emerged as the leading clearinghouse for Charleston restaurant information came close to shutting down her site.
“The mask-and-glove debate has become a third job,” Christine England of Lowcountry Eat Out! said on Tuesday in an announcement streamed on Facebook Live, during which she revealed new rules to get the group’s 23,000 members back on topic.
“If you’re going to comment ‘How do we eat with a mask on?’ or ‘Stay home if you don’t like it,’ there are like 3 million COVID groups where you can do that,” she continued. “The goal of this group is to support restaurants.”
“People are getting more vocal and people are getting more threatening. I had a couple dozen restaurant (people) reach out, and they all said the same thing: This last week has been the worst week of their lives.”https://t.co/ELwBGjO5N4
— The Post and Courier (@postandcourier) May 27, 2020
The Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) today announced that 110,316 tests for COVID-19 have been performed in South Carolina since May 1.
Earlier this month, DHEC and its community partners set a goal to test two percent of the state’s population, or 110,000 South Carolinians, by May 31. As of today, South Carolina has exceeded that goal.
“We want South Carolinians to know that DHEC is doing everything we can to stop the spread of COVID-19, and a key component of that is increasing our testing capacity,” said Rick Toomey, DHEC Director. “DHEC continues to work with federally qualified health centers, hospitals, and other community partners to expand COVID-19 testing across the state as part of our statewide testing strategy. Together, we can increase the availability of testing and help everyone continue to take the steps needed to help slow the spread of COVID-19.”
A federal court ruled Monday that South Carolina must allow all voters to use absentee ballots without the signature of a witness to keep coronavirus from spreading at the polls in the June primary election.
“Were it not for the current pandemic, then this element may have cut the other way,” U.S. District Court Judge Michelle Childs wrote in the finding. “Strikingly, the witness requirement would still apply to voters who have already contracted COVID-19, therefore affirmatively mandating that an infected individual … risk exposing the witness.”
The state had required a witness signature for absentee voters, which several plaintiffs argued in two separate lawsuits would pose an unnecessary risk and could disenfranchise swaths of voters adhering to social distancing measures.
From P&C: SC absentee voters won’t need a witness due to coronavirus, court rules https://t.co/m0wdORH1G5 #chsnews
— Sam Tyson (@SamInteractive) May 25, 2020
In his latest move to reopen the economy after shutting it down to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, Gov. Henry McMaster is now allowing attractions and amusement parks to reopen on Friday, just in time for Memorial Day weekend.
The governor’s order on Wednesday lifted restrictions on arcades; tourist attractions such as museums, aquariums, planetariums, mini-golf and go-kart racing; indoor children’s play areas; bingo halls; and venues operated by social clubs such as the VFW.
However, night clubs, bowling alleys, concert venues, theaters, auditoriums, performing arts centers, racetracks and adult entertainment venues still are not allowed to reopen.
Breaking: South Carolina Gov. @henrymcmaster reopens yet another part of the state’s economy, just in time for Memorial Day weekend @thestate #readlocal https://t.co/wkJzVqJZ35
— Jamie Self (@jamiemself) May 20, 2020
At least 8,661 people in South Carolina have tested positive for the coronavirus and 380 have died, according to state health officials.
The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control reported…[over 250] new cases of the virus and no additional deaths Friday.
Patients who died were residents of Sumter, Cherokee, Clarendon, Fairfield, Florence and Pickens counties, according to health officials.
Worldwide, more than 4.6 million cases of COVID-19 have been reported and more than 310,000 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins University. More than 1.4 million cases and 88,000 deaths have been reported in the United States.
NEW: No new coronavirus deaths reported in South Carolina today, the first time in weeks to have zero daily deaths, but the state logged 276 new cases, bringing the total to 8,661.https://t.co/uDnZvIZJHW
— The Post and Courier (@postandcourier) May 16, 2020
A new law that took effect in Utah this week has lowered the punishment for polygamy in some cases, making it an infraction similar to a traffic summons instead of a felony punishable by a prison term.
Under Senate Bill 102, which was signed into law by Gov. Gary R. Herbert in March and went into effect on Tuesday, a married person can now take additional spouses at the same time and not be subjected to felony charges, as long as the new spouse entered into the union voluntarily.
But a polygamous marriage is still a felony if it was made by threats, fraud or force or involves abuse. Second-degree felonies can carry prison terms of up to 15 years. Barring other factors, polygamy is now an infraction, which can draw fines of up to $750 and community service.
When it was passed by the State Legislature in February, the bill exposed the debate over multiple marriages in Utah, which is believed to be the state with the highest population of polygamists.
Wow there is so much I am unaware of.
Utah Lowers Penalty for Polygamy, No Longer a Felony https://t.co/O4BhBegyZo
— Savi🌳 (@SavitriGrover) May 14, 2020
MARGARET BRENNAN: And you are looking at mobility through tracking cell phone data. Is this mobility because of loosened restrictions or is it just quarantine fatigue and people are going out and about more than they should?
CHRISTOPHER MURRAY, M.D.: You know, I think it is a bit of both. We’re seeing increases in mobility, even in anticipation of the relaxation of social distancing. But there’s definitely a correlation. The places that are taking off the social distancing mandate, the bump in mobility appears to be larger. So somewhere like Georgia, which was one of the first, we’re seeing, is in that category of– of a pretty big increase. So it’s definitely a mixture of both, we believe.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You know, we spoke just before you with one of the White House economic advisers who said one of the reasons they’re waiting on more emergency financial aid is because they want to see what happens in the states as they pull back restrictions and whether that leads to a new outbreak of the disease, as Kevin Hassett put it. Do you have any indication that that is happening?
CHRISTOPHER MURRAY, M.D.: Well, I think that the big challenge here is that when we model the relationship between mobility and transmission, most of the data that’s informing that is coming from when people reduce their mobility and we saw a reduction in transmission, you know, namely social distancing works. Now that we’re coming out, the big question mark is will people’s own behavior, acting responsibly, wearing a mask, avoiding physical– coming into physical close contact, will that be enough to counteract the effects of rising mobility? And so we really are going to have to wait and see. Our suspicion is that there will be about ten days from now in these places that have had these big increases in mobility, we are expecting to see a jump in cases.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And what– what places? What are the potential hotspots in the next ten days?
CHRISTOPHER MURRAY, M.D.: Well, as I mentioned a moment ago, the big increases in mobility, there’s five states at the top. Some of those have had modest epidemic so far. So they may not be huge numbers. But, you know, the top five in terms of increasing mobility are Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Georgia. But there’s another ten states or more where there’s been a ten to fifteen percentage point increase of mobility. So pretty– pretty diverse. So we may see quite a lot of states tipping towards increasing cases in the next two weeks.
NEWS: New #coronavirus models from @IHME_UW show 137,184 deaths projected by the beginning of August, IHME Director Dr. Christopher Murray tells @margbrennan on @facethenation pic.twitter.com/ujPowbdMvV
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) May 10, 2020
South Carolina’s public health agency plans to test nearly a quarter million people for COVID-19 over the next two months, partnering with healthcare facilities and a private lab as part of a new, coordinated assault on the pandemic.
As part of that new strategy, the state Department of Health and Environmental Control will quickly test all 40,000 residents and employees of South Carolina’s nearly 200 nursing homes, where the respiratory disease can spread quickly and prey on vulnerable residents. At least 84 nursing home residents and employees have died so far from COVID-19.
The agency also is stepping up plans to hire contact tracers. It is identifying a pool of up to 1,000 people who can be hired and trained to track down where the virus has been and where it might spread next, a crucial piece of the state’s outbreak containment strategy.
South Carolina’s public health agency plans to test some 220,000 more people for COVID-19 over the next two months, including all 40,000 residents and employees of the state’s nearly 200 nursing homes.https://t.co/pdqd9rWONC
— The Post and Courier (@postandcourier) May 6, 2020
By Aug. 4, DHEC projects the state could have over 1,100 deaths from the coronavirus, up from about 360. DHEC’s website no longer notes, as it had, that the projections assume social distancing into June.
“I believe we’re moving in the right direction at exactly the right time,” Gov. Henry McMaster said Tuesday. Statistics from businesses as well as health professionals informed his decision to allow businesses around the state to resume some services, he said.
“We probably had fewer restrictions than any state in the country,” McMaster said. “We have information, facts, statistics from businesses to see what’s happening, we’ve had experience to see what’s happened with other states… we certainly know how to contain it.”
Residents in a trio of Richland County ZIP codes where the coronavirus is most prevalent will have access to nasal swab testing next week, in a partnership between local officials and the Medical University of South Carolina.
“I do think we have the tools and resources necessary to defeat this pandemic, but it takes exactly what we’re doing right now,” state Rep. Ivory Thigpen, D-Columbia, said during a Tuesday press conference at the South Carolina Statehouse.
As of Tuesday evening, South Carolina has documented a total of 6,841 positive tests for the virus, and 296 patients who have died.https://t.co/dZPuCucTcS
— The Post and Courier (@postandcourier) May 5, 2020
South Carolina has officially begun loosening restrictions on travel, commerce and recreation implemented during the initial spread of the coronavirus, as the state tries to regain its economic footing ahead of the summertime tourist season.
Monday marked the end of Gov. Henry McMaster’s stay-at-home order, which placed a $100 fine on anyone outside their home for a reason other than work, visiting family, exercising alone or going to an essential business such as a grocery store.
Dine-in restaurants and close-contact businesses such as barbershops and gyms remain closed, along with playgrounds and nightclubs. But restaurants were being allowed to begin serving people in outdoor dining areas Monday, as long as tables were at least 8 feet (2.4 meters) apart, parties were limited to eight people and strict sanitation guidelines were followed.
“We have a lot of people saying we are going too fast. Others say we are going too slow,” Gov. @HenryMcMaster said on Friday. “I think we are doing it just right.”
My story on the gradual reopening of South Carolina. https://t.co/wETIhaXuhQ
— Meg Kinnard (@MegKinnardAP) May 4, 2020
Pulling up short of 75,000 deaths means, in other words, an incredibly abrupt conclusion to the pandemic, with deaths going all the way to zero very soon and staying there permanently. That is not going to happen. For about the last two weeks, the country has been on a roughly flat trajectory of about 2,000 deaths per day. If it stays on that plateau through August 4, it would mean not 12,000 more deaths, but 180,000. And the pandemic wouldn’t simply end on August 4 just because the modeling does.
Of course, we may well not stay on that pace, but decline. How quickly? According to a New York Times survey of five major models, published last week, all of the models project a quite rapid decline — as rapid as the ascent was. As for how quickly that decline would begin, a model based at the University of Texas, which has won praise as an alternative to the IMHE, now says with 100 percent certainty that the country has passed its peak — this despite the fact that just on Wednesday we reached a new peak, and despite the likelihood that no more than 5 percent of the country, at most, has been exposed to the disease.
So, what is happening? Why is it that nearly all efforts to project the future shape of the pandemic seem unable to see more than a week or two into the future? And why, even in that time frame, are they almost unanimous in projecting a precipitous decline that is almost every day contradicted by the number of new deaths?
There are two big explanations. The first is that even under present conditions, in which the spread of infection is being dramatically constrained by shutdowns, the disease is not behaving as we expected.
It’s grimmer than we want to believe. 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻 https://t.co/ZAtWUkUcrv
— Andrew Sullivan (@sullydish) May 2, 2020
Myrtle Beach, the financial heart of South Carolina’s tourism economy, will allow hotels and short-term rentals to start once again.
An emergency order by the city to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus expires Friday. In a City Council meeting held by teleconference Thursday, elected leaders of the beach town approved a new emergency order that will not stop hotels from renting.
Officials said they felt it would not be legal, given recent orders by Gov. Henry McMaster, to continue to bar rentals.
SC largest tourist destination – Myrtle Beach – is reopening hotels after #coronavirus crackdown https://t.co/UODqgHfA0G
— Andy Shain (@AndyShain) April 30, 2020
Gov. Henry McMaster plans to issue a new state of emergency order on Monday, saying the widespread threat of the coronavirus remains too high for such a restriction to be lifted.
“We’re not out of this yet. We went into this in a smart way with targeted hotspots, so we do not have the burden that some other states have, but we’re still facing a very serious disease and contagion,” McMaster told reporters Sunday in Greenville.
State law only allows the mandate to be in effect for 15 days. The work-or-stay home order will remain in place, but also could be lifted prior to that deadline.
“All of the policies that have been adopted have been to enforce and encourage social distancing,” McMaster said. “If we’re smart, we can come out of it quickly, but we must do so safely.”
SC leaps up to 237 new cases today. We can’t have nice things (like pedicures!) anytime soon if you won’t #stayhomeSC. Please #WearAMask too. Let’s all pull together so we can get back to a #new normal sooner. My toes will thank you. https://t.co/Ckza7um36j
— Marie-Louise Ramsdal (@mlramsdale_law) April 26, 2020
As best the agency’s models can tell, the peak number of daily deaths was likely observed nearly two weeks ago on April 9, when 16 people in South Carolina died from COVID-19.
Peak “hospital resource use” was reported on April 10 when 270 hospital beds were being utilized across the state by coronavirus patients.
The agency anticipates a total of 261 people will die from the disease in the state by early August. To date, DHEC has reported 150 deaths.
The projections can change quickly. Only one week ago, DHEC’s models showed more than 600 South Carolinians would likely die from coronavirus this spring and summer, and that the disease would peak in late April and early May.
The new projections offer hope that social distancing measures observed by millions of people across the state have worked to keep the disease contained.
South Carolina’s health department predicts weekly coronavirus cases will continue to drop in late April and early May.
This suggests the virus’ spread may have turned a corner in S.C. or that the disease curve may be flattening. https://t.co/DqXEEBSclX
— The Post and Courier (@postandcourier) April 24, 2020
After nearly two months of combating the spread of coronavirus, South Carolina has plateaued and should see the number of cases begin to drop off — but only if South Carolinians continue to keep their distance from one another.
That was the message Dr. Linda Bell, South Carolina’s state epidemiologist, gave to a meeting of the Midlands Coronavirus Task Force on Thursday.
“We are at the plateau, but we are not on a downward trend, and we want to see a downward trend,” Bell said. As the state’s economy now begins to reopen, “I cannot emphasize enough that we have to maintain social distancing.”
That’s particularly important in the Midlands, where Richland County has been hit with the largest number of cases in the state, especially in the African-American community. Bell said Richland ranks fifth statewide in the per capita rate of cases, at 174 per 100,000 residents. As of Tuesday, 15 people have died of COVID-19 in Richland County, also the highest in the state.
Keep your distance as SC begins to reopen, or COVID-19 cases could grow. https://t.co/lZbTs1v7OE
— The State Newspaper (@thestate) April 23, 2020
State health officials have identified 160 new coronavirus cases in South Carolina, bringing the statewide total to 4,761.
S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control officials also announced Tuesday that five additional people have died after contacting COVID-19. In all, 140 South Carolinians have died from the virus.
Three of the patients who died were elderly, and were from Berkeley, Clarendon and Richland counties. The two others — who were from Greenville and Spartanburg counties — were middle-aged.
Richland County saw the largest increase in coronavirus cases with 34. Lexington County posted five new cases.
Coronavirus spreads to 160 more in South Carolina. Five more dead https://t.co/DE9kypqSpW
— George Harper (@GeorgeH36498765) April 22, 2020
Though its locations have been closed, Goodwill has still been receiving donated goods. Limited staff have been sanitizing donations. Fink said when doors open, the retail stores should be fully stocked. Customers will notice some changes, like limits on how many people can be inside at once and directional signage.
“We want to make sure we’re protecting our community,” Fink said.
And given Goodwill’s purpose helping people get back to work, its services are more important than ever during coronavirus. Revenue from the retail stores funds the career centers.
Half-Moon Outfitters, which operates stores in Charleston, Greenville, Columbia, Mount Pleasant and North Charleston, said its stores were open Tuesday only for curbside service.
Katherine Smith, the company’s marketing director, said the sporting goods retailer was not ready to open its doors to customers just yet. The staff, she said, was busy restocking the stores and ensuring they had the right safety measures in place for when business does resume.
Half-Moon locations will have hand sanitizer available at the entrances to the stores and the employees will police how many customers are in the stores at one time.
Many SC retailers start to reopen after Gov. McMaster relaxes #coronavirus closures, but they wonder if customers will return https://t.co/D2qsDfikW5
— Andy Shain (@AndyShain) April 21, 2020
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster on Monday reversed restrictions on some businesses he ordered roughly two weeks ago allowing some retail shopping to reopen as state public health officials continue to fight the novel virus that has so far claimed more than 100 lives in the state.
Under the governor’s new order, department stores can reopen, along with other retail businesses deemed “nonessential” such as sporting goods stores, book, music, shoe and craft stores, jewelry stores, floral shops and other luggage and leather goods stores.
Stores, however, still must abide by previous mandates that limit occupancy to five customers per 1,000 square feet, or 20% of posted occupancy limits.
SC Gov. McMaster allows some stores to reopen 2 weeks after closing due to COVID-19 https://t.co/BbhNQRslWJ #readlocal #sctweets #coronavirus
— Joseph Bustos (@JoeBReporter) April 20, 2020
In 2006 and 2007, DHEC told lawmakers that lower federal funding was “causing instability in the department’s preparedness efforts.”
In 2008, it cautioned that “sustenance of state emergency preparedness, for pandemics and other disasters, is becoming a critical issue.”
That year and again in 2009, it reported that it had cut staff because the state hadn’t stepped in to fill federal cuts. Funding shortages had “jeopardized preparedness efforts,” it said.
Seven years in a row, it asked the Legislature for money to keep preparing. That money did not come. Year after year, the agency reminded lawmakers that its emergency planning depended on federal money alone.
Without new funding, “the ability to respond to a large-scale infectious disease event would be severely limited,” DHEC wrote in 2012.
But by then, it was facing an even bigger challenge: The money it got from the state for public health work was dwindling, too.
South Carolina’s public health system has become one of the most depleted in the nation, hampering the state’s capacity to manage the coronavirus outbreak and recovery.https://t.co/cdR9Fz9nXK
— The Post and Courier (@postandcourier) April 19, 2020
This is important. There’s no U.S. data yet on what the right side of the curve will look like, but the best available evidence from other countries suggests that the descent will be slow. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has said “the worst is over” and “we’ve reached the peak.” He should have followed with “now comes the long wait.”
This shouldn’t be surprising. All our efforts to stay inside and separated –- except for essential activities such as shopping, and except for those who must work –- serve only to slow the spread, not stop it. If you’re hoping for the somewhat symmetrical China curve, forget it. We’re not quarantining people at gunpoint. It’s like someone took the worst-case-scenario curve and pushed it forward in time, without making the area under the curve smaller.
Here’s an analogy. Imagine a plow spreading out a big pile of snow in the street. If it keeps the blade higher, the pile will be taller and won’t spread out very far. If it lowers the blade to a few inches off the ground, the snow will be more manageable but also spread out much farther. The better it does the job – the thinner it spreads the snow — the longer it will take.
If people stick with measures to contain the virus, death rates will eventually trickle down to zero, but only after a lot more people have been infected, assuming they are then immune. If we’re lucky, we’ll slow things down enough to never truly overwhelm the hospitals, and if we’re really lucky we’ll slow things down long enough to benefit from a vaccine or a treatment.
This Isn’t the Flattened Curve We Were Promised
“It’s like someone took the worst-case-scenario curve and pushed it forward in time, without making the area under the curve smaller.”https://t.co/8ls11iV2i5
— Jack Posobiec, IWO (@JackPosobiec) April 17, 2020
1. How do issues with testing impact governors’ ability to meet the benchmarks laid out in the guidelines?
Testing remains one of the biggest problems with containing the coronavirus and allowing places to move toward recovery. Despite Trump’s boasts, testing is still not widespread in the U.S. Not everyone who wants a test can get one. Only people with symptoms are getting them — and not all of them are — and asymptomatic people are able to spread the disease. That means no one really knows just how widespread the virus is. And without a vaccine or known treatment, there’s the risk of more outbreaks….
Coronavirus Latest: Despite Trump’s Optimism, There’s Still A Long Road To Reopening https://t.co/nXzLU7fbqj
— NPR Health News (@NPRHealth) April 17, 2020
More than a million Americans have now been tested for the novel coronavirus, but access varies widely from state to state and often even between hospitals in the same region. New York State has tested more than 340,000 people, while California, with double the population, had tested just 143,800 as of Monday. That’s nearly five times as many tests when counted per capita.
And that’s just tests performed. With many facilities relying on third parties to process tests, that step in the testing process often becomes another bottleneck resulting in lengthy delays. After aggressive efforts to cut down a backlog of more than 59,000 tests, the state of California was still waiting Monday for results on more than 14,000 tests.
In New Jersey, results have frequently been delayed by up to two weeks. That’s led Governor Phil Murphy to caution that each day’s numbers include stale data.
“We are getting only a very fuzzy picture of the scope of the problem, and it is very slow to develop,” said Eric Blank, the chief program officer for the Association of Public Health Laboratories. “There are all of these questions about the virus that have been swirling around, and we are only starting to get some sense of the issue.”
Coronavirus testing has become a massive logistical failure — one that has made it impossible to know how much the virus has truly spread and how many it has sickened https://t.co/5ueFJ320Ex
— Bloomberg (@business) April 7, 2020
South Carolina health officials identified 187 new cases of the coronavirus Tuesday, bringing the statewide total of known cases to 2,417.
Three additional South Carolinians have died as a result of the disease, according to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control. All three were 60 years old or older, and had underlying health conditions. Two were from Lexington County and one was from Greenville County, according to DHEC.
Statewide, the death toll is now 51.
The actual number of S.C. cases is likely higher than what is being reported. As of Sunday evening, DHEC estimated the state had more than 15,000 cases of COVID-19, meaning about 85% of cases have not been tested or identified.
Identified coronavirus cases in SC reaches 2,417. Three more deaths reported Tuesdayhttps://t.co/KYNWZt9Tle
— WatchYourRepsSC (@WatchYourRepsSC) April 7, 2020
Seeking to further minimize movement across the state, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster issued a more pointed executive order Monday telling people to stay at home if they are not at work or out tending to essential needs.
The executive order takes effect Tuesday, and follows a number of other mandates McMaster already has issued prohibiting large gatherings, closing access to beaches and lakes and closing many nonessential businesses to curb the spread of the coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, a potentially severe upper respiratory disease.
It also comes after days of McMaster urging South Carolina residents to use “common sense” and stay home if they can.
Gov. McMaster toughens South Carolina #coronavirus stance with ‘go to work or stay home’ order https://t.co/9OSckrd6V1
— Brian Murphy (@MurphinDC) April 6, 2020
A stretch of Interstate 40, which runs from downtown Memphis across the Mississippi River into Arkansas, has come to illustrate the patchwork of rules restricting movement in the United States. On the Arkansas side of the river, where the governor has resisted a statewide mandate, some “nonessential” businesses remain open. On the Tennessee side, a stay-at-home order went into effect this week, closing stores.
Now, the owner of a chain of clothing stores called Deep South located on both sides of the Mississippi is operating under two different sets of rules. The company’s owner, Munther Awad, a 47-year-old immigrant from the Middle East, said he owned two stores in Arkansas, which are open, one in West Memphis and another in Little Rock. And he owns a third store in Memphis, which is now closed because of a local mandate last week.
“I feel like if you would have just went ahead and put the whole nation at the same time on a lockdown, we could have got some control over it,” said Lavanda Mayfield, 33, who was waiting to serve takeout to customers at the Iron Skillet restaurant at a truck stop near I-40 in West Memphis on Friday.
“But now it’s just out of control,” she said, “because you did state-to-state.”
For a small number of states in the South and Midwest, pressure is growing for governors to issue stay-at-home orders. “What are you waiting for?” said Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, who issued the first statewide order last month. https://t.co/mUoN83OWyr
— NYT National News (@NYTNational) April 4, 2020
Gov. Henry McMaster continued to resist the idea of issuing a stay-at-home order after he was peppered with questions at a Friday news conference about why he chooses to issue incremental orders closing businesses and restricting residents’ movement while refusing a broader rule.
The questions came as more than 40 other states have issued broader shelter-in-place orders.
South Carolina is the only state in the southeast that has not issued one yet.
“The measures we have taken are both mandatory and voluntary about staying home,” McMaster said on Friday. “We are taking a deliberate approach. Our state is not like everyone else’s state.”
Gov. McMaster said Friday he has repeatedly urged South Carolinians to stay home, making an order unnecessary. https://t.co/IMYGWQLT75
— The State Newspaper (@thestate) April 3, 2020