DHEC: Most COVID deaths now are people not fully vaccinated
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) announced a review of provisional data that show nearly all COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths over a two-week period were people not fully vaccinated against the virus. With South Carolina’s fully vaccinated rate of 43 percent being comparable to the vaccination rate of several states that are currently experiencing outbreaks and significant increases in cases, DHEC performed an analysis of newly reported cases, deaths and hospitalizations in South Carolina during a two-week period, from June 1-14. That analysis shows: Of the 1,635 newly reported cases for which we were able to determine the individuals’ vaccine status, 1,540 cases – or 94 percent of those new cases – were not fully vaccinated. Of the 92 reported cases that required hospitalization and for which we were able to determine vaccine status, 83 of those individuals – or 90.2 percent – were not fully vaccinated. Of the 11 reported deaths during those two weeks where vaccine status was able to be determined, all 11 individuals – 100 percent of them – were not considered fully vaccinated.
