Daily numbers slowing as Sumter has high percent positive rate

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Sumter County, like the state overall, is continuing to see a drop in new cases per day since a Memorial Day surge peaked in mid-July, but Sumterites continue to test positive at a higher rate than any other county in the state.

Unlike counties like Kershaw and Clarendon, which were pegged as some of the state's first hot spots for the new coronavirus, Sumter has mirrored overall state trends and didn't see a spike in new daily cases until June.

The biggest week for new cases statewide has been July 12-18, during which the state Department of Health and Environmental Control reported 13,271 new cases. Last week's total puts the Palmetto State back to numbers mirroring the end of June.

According to DHEC's Tuesday update, Sumter County has had 2,364 residents test positive for the highly contagious respiratory virus, and 43 have died. In Clarendon County, 792 have been confirmed to have it, and 49 have died, and Lee County has seen 532 cases and 27 deaths.

According to DHEC data aggregated by the Post and Courier, 557 of Sumter's total confirmed cases have been reported in the last 14 days, Clarendon 199 and Lee 134.

Sumter is showing a decreasing trend for new cases per day, with the county having a seven-day rolling average that is lower than it was 14 days prior.

Proof that the spike across the state has peaked as of yet can be found in the sewage in Clemson. According to AP, the city has been measuring the level of the virus in wastewater weekly since late May. There was a spike in mid-June, which coincided with a rapid increase in cases. The amount started leveling off in late July.

Clemson officials wrote in a report the slowdown is "presumably a consequence of the mask ordinance" but that they want to see a trend, not just one data point, AP reported.

When including Tuesday's statewide total of 1,168 new cases and 52 deaths, the state is averaging 1,407 cases and 38 deaths a day during the last week.

A week ago, South Carolina was averaging 1,521 new cases and 43 deaths a day.

However, the state is still averaging five times as many cases and deaths now as June 1, according to the Associated Press and state data and not taking Tuesday's numbers into account.

All 46 counties in the state are still seeing high disease activity, which the state taskforce on reopening schools said district and local decision-makers should take into account when planning reopenings. The categorization considers the incidence rate, trend in the rate and percent of positive tests during a two-week period.

Sumter's incidence rate is high but stable rather than increasing.

Statewide, the percentage of tests coming back positive has trended down over the last 14 and 28 days, but Sumter County continues to lead the state in its percent positive numbers. As of Monday, 41.1% of Sumterites getting tested for COVID-19 are receiving a positive result.

Clarendon County is second in the state with a 37.8% rate of positive tests. There is only one other county in the 30s. The rest are in the 20s and 10s.

OTHER STATE DATA

As of Tuesday, DHEC reported 1,458 COVID-19 patients are hospitalized, and 254 are on ventilators.

The virus continues to affect Black South Carolinians at a rate that is disproportionate to the state's population.

According to DHEC data as of Tuesday, 34% of the people who have tested positive statewide are Black, and African-Americans represent 41% of the state's deaths while only 27% of South Carolina's population is Black.

As of July 27, DHEC says it has data on when a person first showed signs of illness for 36,511 people. Of them, 1,074 have died, and 90% have recovered.