DHEC estimates 89% of COVID-19 patients in S.C. have recovered

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WMBF) – The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control released new COVID-19 recovery numbers on Friday.

Agency officials said that as of July 9, DHEC has “symptoms onset data” for 24,280 people. Symptoms onset data means that the agency knows the date when a person first showed signs of illness.

According to DHEC, of those patients, 733 have passed away. Of the remaining 23,547, 89%, or 20,957 people, have recovered from the virus and 11% are estimated to remain ill.

DHEC outlined how they develop its recovery rate:

· Those who reported being hospitalized were deemed as “recovered” based upon having no reported adverse outcome reported as of > 32 days since their illness onset.

· Those who reported not being hospitalized were deemed as “recovered” based upon having no reported adverse outcome reported as of > 14 days since their illness onset.

· Those where hospitalization status was unknown were deemed as “recovered” based upon having no reported adverse outcome reported as of > 32 days since their illness onset.

According to DHEC officials, the recovery rate is based on “symptoms onset” information, so the percentage is based on the number of individuals that the agency has “symptoms onset” data for, not the total number of cases in the state.