South Carolina recorded its fewest new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in three weeks Tuesday, as health officials reported 527 cases and an additional 22 deaths related to the coronavirus.
That figure is just below the 528 cases reported Sept. 20 and is the lowest since the 380 cases reported on Sept. 8. Since the global pandemic first reached South Carolina in March, the Department of Health and Environmental Control has recorded 143,495 confirmed cases and 3,173 deaths.
Amid a surge in free testing opportunities in the Columbia area coordinated by a federal response team, DHEC reported 4,007 individual test results Tuesday, putting the percentage of tests returning positive at 13.2%. The rolling seven-day average of positive tests is 11.7%.
The average rate of positive tests continues to decline from the state’s high points in July, when it consistently topped 20%, but it is still above the 5% mark health experts, including DHEC state epidemiologist Linda Bell, have cited as a goal.
The percentage of tests coming back positive was above 13%, however. https://t.co/ezrDlFd1Gp
— The State Newspaper (@thestate) September 29, 2020