COVID takes no holiday

By DEUCE NIVEN

tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com

     While some health experts are worried about a potential COVID-19 case spike in two-week’s time after the Labor Day holiday, the coronavirus did not seem to take a break locally in the past four days.

     This post will cover these topics and may be updated:

• Horry records 11 deaths, 123 new cases since Thursday
• Another 28 infections for Columbus in four days

 Horry records 11 deaths, 123 new cases since Thursday

     Newly confirmed COVID-19 cases in Horry County, still far from their daily peak earlier in the summer, continued at a steady pace leading into and during the Labor Day holiday weekend, data from South Carolina’s Department of Health and Environmental Control showed.

     Since Thursday 11 Horry residents have died of COVID complications, another 28 citizens have tested positive for the disease, the DHEC data showed.

     Few of those cases have come from the Loris and Green Sea areas, two from the Loris Zip Code, one from Green Sea, bringing pandemic totals for those areas to 555 and 38 respectively.

     DHEC had shown 556 for the Loris Zip Code during the weekend, with Monday’s data bringing that back to 555. That typically happens when investigation reveals an error in classifying the residency of an individual.

     Horry has recorded 9,479 COVID infections during the pandemic, 189 deaths, Monday’s DHEC data showed. That included a new death Monday, an elderly individual.

     Statewide South Carolina reported 590 new COVID cases and 19 new deaths Monday, the pandemic totals now 123,552 and 2,767 respectively.

     There were 787 COVID patients being treated in South Carolina hospitals Monday, that number unchanged from Sunday and down by 124 from Thursday..

 Another 28 infections for Columbus in four days

     Another 28 Columbus County residents have tested positive for COVID-19 since Thursday, with no new deaths recorded, data from the state’s Department of Health and Human Services showed Monday.

     Columbus County Health Department has been reporting pandemic data each Monday and Thursday for weeks, but paused Monday due to the Labor Day holiday, and scheduled the next news release for Wednesday.

     Zip Code data showed three of the new cases since Thursday in both the Tabor City and Chadbourn areas, one each from Clarendon and Nakina, four from Cerro Gordo, and ten from Whiteville.

     Pandemic total cases/deaths in those areas are Tabor City, 266/17; Clarendon, 44/2; Nakina, 44/2; Fair Bluff, 40/4; Cerro Gordo, 34/1; Chadbourn, 154/6; and Whiteville, 353/14.

     North Carolina reported 1,018 new COVID infections and 7 related deaths Monday, the pandemic total now 177,919 and 2,897 respectively.

     A technical issue has prevented accurate data on hospitalizations from being reported to DHHS since last week, and has not been corrected, the agency reported Monday.

Updates

     Look for continuing coverage on local impacts from the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak here and in the Tabor-Loris Tribune in print and online.