<strong>From staff reports</strong>

This week, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) will begin providing twice-weekly reports on the number COVID-19 cases associated with staff and students at public and private schools in the state.

This school reporting will include for every school both cumulative and rolling 30-day counts of confirmed cases among students, teachers and faculty members, and will be updated on DHEC’s COVID-19 webpage on Tuesday and Friday afternoons. The first reports will be available this Friday, Sep. 4.

Key points about this new data include:

• The reporting does not mean that students, faculty or staff contracted the virus at school

• Unlike a nursing home, where residents live at the facility, students, teachers and faculty come and go from school and are active in their community and could come into contact with the virus outside of a school setting.

• The reporting will include kindergarten through 12th grade students in private and public schools

• At this time, college students will not be captured in these reports, although several colleges and universities are choosing to announce cases on their websites. Students residing in South Carolina to go to school are included in South Carolina’s daily numbers, reported out by county based on current address.

• Only those individuals who physically attend school on a regular basis will be included in the counts

• Sports coaches, tutors, part-time employees, kitchen staff, custodial and maintenance workers and other school employees with a physical presence in schools will be included in these reports. Those students who participate in virtual instruction but are on campus regularly for extracurricular activities will also be included.

• Some schools may choose to self-announce cases before they are reflected in DHEC’s twice-weekly reports

• There may be in a delay in what cases are included in DHEC’s online reporting, as the agency works to receive the information, review it and confirm it before presenting it online.

To view the school cases lists, which will first be available this Friday, visit scdhec.gov/COVID19schools.

<strong>DHEC improves online reporting of COVID-19 data</strong>

Last week, DHEC announced updates to its extensive COVID-19 website to help make data and information more easily accessible and user friendly.

On Aug. 11, DHEC unveiled a new county-level online resource that provides detailed county-level data and a localized look at the impacts of COVID-19 in South Carolina. This new dashboard was developed by DHEC’s data analysts, GIS specialists and epidemiologists using information gathered through the agency’s expansive disease surveillance capabilities.

Because the county-level dashboard consolidates so many different data sets into one online resource, in order to avoid confusion and reduce the production of duplicated information, the agency is referring the public to the county-level dashboard for data sets such as:

cases by ZIP code,

percent positive statewide and for each county,

demographic data,

chronic health conditions information, and

updates on the cases and deaths associated with nursing homes and similar congregate care facilities.

Now, the individual webpages that previously contained those data sets will direct users to the county-level dashboard. The dashboard is available by clicking the green “S.C. County-Level COVID-19 Data” button on the main COVID-19 landing page.

No data or information that had previously been provided is being taken away or reduced. The same information – and more – is available on the county-level dashboard.

The quality, completeness, and amount of data that DHEC publicly reports each day has earned South Carolina an A+ rating from the COVID Tracking Project, a trusted, national organization that collects and consolidates COVID-19 data from all 50 states, five territories, and the District of Columbia

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

<b>Monday, Aug. 31</b>

<b>New S.C. Cases: </b>651

<b>S.C. deaths: </b>12

<b>New Beaufort Co. Cases: </b>12

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

<b>Percent Positive: </b>15.6

<b>Sunday, Aug. 30</b>

<b>New S.C. Cases: </b>1,019

<b>S.C. deaths: </b>11

<b>New Beaufort Co. Cases: </b>26

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

<b>Percent Positive: </b>21.5

<b>Saturday, Aug. 29</b>

<b>New S.C. Cases: </b>1,250

<b>S.C. deaths: </b>42

<b>New Beaufort Co. Cases: </b>45

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

<b>Percent Positive: </b>20.5

<b>Friday, Aug. 28</b>

<b>New S.C. Cases: </b>903

<b>S.C. deaths: </b>34

<b>New Beaufort Co. Cases: </b>26

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

<b>Percent Positive: </b>15.7

<b>Thursday, Aug. 27</b>

<b>New S.C. Cases: </b>242

<b>S.C. deaths: </b>42

<b>New Beaufort Co. Cases: </b>8

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

<b>Percent Positive: </b>8.1

<b>Wednesday, Aug. 26</b>

<b>New S.C. Cases: </b>505

<b>S.C. deaths: </b>42

<b>New Beaufort Co. Cases: </b>29

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

<b>Percent Positive: </b>20.4

<b>Tuesday, Aug. 25</b>

<b>New S.C. Cases: </b>909

<b>S.C. deaths: </b>18

<b>New Beaufort Co. Cases: </b>16

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

<b>Percent Positive: </b>17.4

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

From S.C. DHEC

<b>Totals</b>

As of Monday, Aug. 31

<b>S.C. confirmed cases: </b>117,333

<b>S.C. probable cases: </b>1,659

<b>S.C. confirmed deaths: </b>2,588

<b>S.C. probable deaths: </b>132

<b>Beaufort County cases: </b>4,766

<b>Beaufort County deaths: </b>66

<b>THE AVERAGES</b>

<b>Last week’s 7-day avg. new cases, state: </b>782.7

<b>Previous week’s 7-day avg. new cases, state: </b>755.6

<b>Two weeks ago’s 7-day avg. new cases, state: </b>790.9

Three weeks ago’s 7-day avg. new cases, state: 1074.4

<b>Four weeks ago’s 7-day avg. new cases, state: </b>1,418.1

<b>Five weeks ago’s 7-day avg. new cases, state: </b>1,449.6

<b>Six weeks ago’s 7-day avg. new cases, state: </b>1,860.2

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

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

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

<b>Last week’s 7-day average new cases, county: </b>23.1

<b>Previous week’s 7-day average new cases, county: </b>29.0

<b>Two weeks ago’s 7-day average new cases, county: </b>35.7

<b>Three weeks ago’s 7-day average new cases, county: </b>65.4

<b>Four weeks ago’s 7-day average new cases, county: </b>83.3

<b>Five weeks ago’s 7-day average new cases, county: </b>83.9

<b>Six weeks ago’s 7-day average new cases, county: </b>72.4

<b>Seven weeks ago’s 7-day average new cases, county: </b>2.6

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

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