Staff reports  | Just under a quarter of the state’s new coronavirus cases have been reported in the last seven days, according to figures released by state health officials, who are strongly urging residents to wear face masks to stop the spread of the disease.

As of Sunday, 4,520 new positive cases have been reported since June 8.  All totaled, the state has reported 18,795 cases and 600 deaths from the virus since early March.

Meanwhile, the state has not taken steps to require the wearing of masks in public.  Several organizations, however, issued a joint statement last week to “strongly urge” people to use social distancing and wear masks to stop the spread of the virus.

“There is rapidly growing medical evidence that the use of face masks along with social distancing can greatly reduce the transmission of the COVID-19 virus in public spaces and places where people at higher risk of severe illness and death from this virus are likely to be present,” according to the statement by the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, the S.C. Hospital Association, the S.C. Medical Association and the S.C. Office of Rural Health.