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<h2>&nbsp;<strong>At least 7 die of&nbsp;COVID in Beaufort County over 3 days&nbsp;</strong></h2>
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<p>&nbsp;<strong>By Mike McCombs&nbsp;</strong></p>
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<p>Monday’s COVID-19 numbers released by the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (S.C. DHEC) continued to trend badly for Beaufort County.&nbsp;</p>
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<p>The numbers are always delayed by two days, but in the previous three days, officials reported seven COVID-19 deaths in Beaufort County, five confirmed cases and two probable cases.&nbsp;</p>
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<p>There have been 12 deaths in Beaufort county in the week of Aug. 15 to Aug. 22, all middle-aged or elderly patients. There have been 20 deaths overall in Beaufort County since July 1.&nbsp;</p>
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<p>There were 131 new confirmed cases on Monday and the seven-day average rose to 151, the high in Beaufort County since the pandemic began. The previous high was 147 on Sunday.</p>
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<p>There were 3,121 positive cases and 10 deaths reported statewide on Monday. The positivity rate was 16.2 percent. On Sunday, those numbers were even higher – 4,009 positive cases and 25 deaths.</p>
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<p>At Beaufort Memorial Hospital, as of Tuesday morning, there were 51 COVID positive patients being treated, a high for BMH since the pandemic began.</p>
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<p>Seven of those cases are in the ICU, and six of those seven are on ventilators.</p>
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<p>Also, two of those are pediatric cases, both children younger than a year old.</p>
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<p><em>Mike McCombs is the editor of&nbsp;The Island News and can be reached at TheIslandNews@gmail.com.</em></p>
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