COVID-19 update: Cases, death tolls continue to rise in South Carolina, Georgia
Editor’s Note: All facts and figures in this article are from April 12, 2020 and were fact-checked at 10 p.m. that evening.
According to the Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC), South Carolina has 3,319 confirmed cases as of April 12, while the Georgia Department of Public Health reported 12,550 total.
A spokeswoman for Aiken Regional Hospital, Ashlee Brewer, said that the hospital has 20 positives, while DHEC reported a total of 50 cases in Aiken county.
The Augusta Chronicle reported that there are 356 cases of COVID-19 in Augusta hospitals, according to officials from AU Health, University Hospital, MedNow UrgentCare and Doctor’s Hospital.
Windermere Health and Rehabilitation Center reported that 70 of its residents have tested positive and seven staff members have as well, according to the Augusta Fire and Emergency Medical Assistance Department.
While hospitals in Athens, Georgia are overrun with an influx of patients from surrounding towns where local facilities have shutdown, medical professionals are attempting to accommodate the rush.
In Columbia, ICU staff have reported the harsh realities of those working with severe cases of coronavirus. Prisma Richland officials told The State that “the disease has killed more than 40 percent of the patients on ventilators” at their facility.
A travel nurse who previously worked at Prisma Richland reported that highly contagious and severely ill patients have suffered alone, unable to receive visits from family before succumbing to suffocation from the disease. She noted that while nurses sometimes held cell phones up for patients to video chat their relatives, often doctors must hold the hands of dying patients who fear a lonely end.
Meanwhile, city officials in Charleston are cracking down on residents who disobey stay-at-home ordinances. Five residents have been slapped with misdemeanors so far, three of which took place this week.
Three men were cited on Wednesday after refusing to leave the location they were visiting and return to their homes.
According to their respective state health departments, South Carolina has had 82 deaths attributed to COVID-19, while Georgia has had 442.
