<strong>By Mike McCombs</strong>

As of 11 a.m. Monday, July 27, there were 32 COVID-19 positive patients at Beaufort Memorial Hospital, according to hospital spokesperson Courtney McDermott.

Eight of the 10 beds occupied in the 12-bed Intensive Care Unit were COVID-19 positive, and six of those were on ventilators. As many as 10 patients were on ventilators over the weekend, McDermott said.

McDermott did not confirm any staffing issues in the ICU.

Last week, Beaufort Memorial tested 264 symptomatic patients, 184 in the ER. Forty-seven of those were admitted.

“Testing is a little bit of a pain point right now,” McDermott said, “given the volume of people we are testing and the allocation of testing supplies.”

McDermott said some of the hospitals tests were being sent to the state lab, while the rest were going to MUSC in Charleston.

<strong>No hospitalization data</strong>

There has still been very little hospitalization data<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>began reporting statistics to TeleTracking instead of the CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) on July 15.

According to DHEC, hospitals are still making the transition and during this transition, the information currently provided by hospitals is incomplete and, therefore, inaccurate. DHEC says when it is able to verify the information the hospitals are reporting as part of this new reporting requirement is accurate and the system is fully implemented, it will resume daily data reports.

As of July 24, the last date the data was presented, there were 1,668 hospital beds in use by COVID-19 patients and 263 of those were on ventilators.

For July 14, the last date before the switch, there were 1,593 hospital beds in use by COVID-19 patients and 214 of those were on ventilators. Those same numbers for the end of the previous week were 1,488 and 205, respectively.

<b>THE NUMBERS<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></b>

<b>Totals</b>

As of Monday, July 27

<b>S.C. confirmed cases: </b>82,071

<b>S.C. probable cases: </b>346

<b>S.C. confirmed deaths: </b>1,452

<b>S.C. probable deaths: </b>54

<b>Beaufort County cases: </b>3,094

<b>Beaufort County deaths: </b>36*

*Total from Beaufort Co. Coroner’s Office, not DHEC

<b>Last week’s 7-day avg. new cases, state: </b>1,449.6

<b>Previous week’s 7-day avg. new cases, state: </b>1,860.2

<b>Two weeks ago’s 7-day avg. new cases, state: </b>1,663.1

<b>Three weeks ago’s 7-day avg. new cases, state: </b>1,604.1

<b>Four weeks ago’s 7-day avg. new cases, state: </b>1,263.6

<b>Last week’s 7-day average new cases, county: </b>83.9

<b>Previous week’s 7-day average new cases, county: </b>72.4

<b>Two weeks ago’s 7-day average new cases, county: </b>72.6

<b>Three weeks ago’s 7-day average new cases, county: </b>52.4

<b>Four weeks ago’s 7-day average new cases, county: </b>38.9

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<b>THE LAST WEEK<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></b>

<b>Monday, July 27</b>

<b>New S.C. Cases: </b>1,226

<b>S.C. deaths: </b>17

<b>New Beaufort Co. Cases: </b>110

<b>Beaufort Co. deaths: </b>0

<b>Percent Positive: </b>14.6

<b>Sunday, July 26</b>

<b>New S.C. Cases: </b>1,170

<b>S.C. deaths: </b>25

<b>New Beaufort Co. Cases: </b>96

<b>Beaufort Co. deaths: </b>1

<b>Percent Positive: </b>15.6

<b>Saturday, July 25</b>

<b>New S.C. Cases: </b>1,368

<b>S.C. deaths: </b>74*

<b>New Beaufort Co. Cases: </b>83

<b>Beaufort Co. deaths: </b>1

<b>Percent Positive: </b>19.0

*Record High

<b>Friday, July 24</b>

<b>New S.C. Cases: </b>1,921

<b>S.C. deaths: </b>46

<b>New Beaufort Co. Cases: </b>88

<b>Beaufort Co. deaths: </b>1

<b>Percent Positive: </b>21.6

<b>Thursday, July 23</b>

<b>New S.C. Cases: </b>1,538

<b>S.C. deaths: </b>49

<b>New Beaufort Co. Cases: </b>65

<b>Beaufort Co. deaths: </b>2

<b>Percent Positive: </b>20.9

<b>Wednesday, July 22</b>

<b>New S.C. Cases: </b>1,654

<b>S.C. deaths: </b>39

<b>New Beaufort Co. Cases: </b>84

<b>Beaufort Co. deaths: </b>0

<b>Percent Positive: </b>19.3

<b>Tuesday, July 21</b>

<b>New S.C. Cases: </b>1,870

<b>S.C. deaths: </b>56

<b>New Beaufort Co. Cases: </b>61

<b>Beaufort Co. deaths: </b>3

<b>Percent Positive: </b>22.0

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