By Patrick Phillips|December 18, 2020 at 10:42 PM EST - Updated December 19 at 5:03 AM
CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - With Christmas just one week away, the latest data from the state health department shows the Lowcountry has the highest acute hospital bed occupancy in the state with the Tri-County over or nearing full capacity.
Charleston County had a 94.9% capacity, with 1,512 beds currently occupied and 82 available.
Berkeley County was overcapacity at 113%, data from the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control showed.
Dorchester County was at 91.7%.
Beaufort County’s bed capacity stood at 94.3% while Jasper County was at 100%.
Meanwhile, Georgetown County reported 88.5% capacity. Colleton County listed 53.3% of its hospital beds in use, while Williamsburg County reported 42.9%, the lowest of any Lowcountry County.
The state average, as of Friday, is an 82.6% capacity, meaning that 9,205 of the available 11,150 statewide are occupied. Of those, 1,460 patients, about 16%, are being treated for COVID-19, DHEC says.
Of the four regions of the state, the Lowcountry has the highest average occupancy at 90.2%, followed by the Pee Dee with 84.6%, the Upstate with 81.9% and the Midlands with 81.1%.
Earlier on Friday, the state set a new daily record for the number of newly-confirmed COVID-19 cases with 3,648.
The previous record of 3,217 was set exactly one week earlier.
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