South Carolina reports highest daily case count since February

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - South Carolina reported 3,236 new COVID-19 cases today which is the highest daily case count since February. The state’s health department is also reporting 16.3% percent positive rate and 11 new deaths.

New numbers from Trident Medical Center show they’ve had 19 new COVID patients in the last week. Of their 53 total COVID patients, 45 are not fully vaccinated. That’s about 85%.

MUSC and Roper Health care systems are reporting similar percentages. 29 of MUSC’s 36 COVID patients are unvaccinated - about 80%.

Earlier this week, a Roper St. Francis Healthcare spokesperson said about 80% of their COVID patients are unvaccinated. They report having 68 COVID patients in four hospitals. That’s a 20 percent increase in COVID inpatients since Monday.

Twelve of their patients are in an ICU and six are on a ventilator.

“COVID has now become an illness of the unvaccinated,” Roper Express Care Dr. Melissa Ellis-Yarian said.

She is urging her patients to trust the vaccine.

“Some people really do have a health reason [not to get the vaccine] or something like that,” she said. “But that really should be a minority at this point. At this point, to opt out of a vaccine that has been proven to be safe and effective is no longer just a personal choice about your appetite for risk. It is also choosing to continue to put other people at risk and to prolong a pandemic that we have the power to stop.”

Researchers found out the delta variant has quickly dominated here. In this MUSC article by Helen Adams, a graph shows how the delta variant was barely showing up in testing at the beginning of June, but is now responsible for more than 9 out of 10 cases there.

MUSC infectious disease Dr. Scott Curry is tracking breakthrough infections among MUSC students, faculty and health care staff.

The article says he found 110 out of about 14,000 people got COVID after being fully vaccinated. That’s about 0.7%. Only two of those patients needed hospitalization.

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