Thursday’s COVID numbers from state health agency

South Carolina DHEC announces 859 new cases and 12 more deaths from COVID-19.  Oconee COVID cases jumped from 7 new cases reported Wednesday to 38 new cases reported yesterday.  Our look at the numbers tells us there have been no additional Oconee deaths reported since September.  The numbers bring to 149,219 the number of South Carolina cases since the count started in March.  Most of those individuals are believed to have recovered.  The statewide death toll on this Friday morning stands at 3,311.  The positivity of results reported Wednesday to DHEC statewide was 11.8%, down from 12.9 on Tuesday.  DHEC announced a new public health order yesterday.  It’s now requiring all nursing homes and community residential care facilities licensed by DHEC to submit a weekly report that details each facility’s current visitation status.  That report is to be publicly available starting October 13 at scdhec.gov/visitation.