COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina has now recorded more than 50,000 cases of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic, state health officials reported Thursday.

The state reported 1,723 new confirmed cases and 22 additional confirmed deaths, with a total of 50,548 confirmed cases and a death toll of 897 people.

Health officials emphasized in a call with reporters Thursday that without a vaccine or a cure, the limited number of options to prevent the spread of the coronavirus include wearing a mask, social distancing and staying home when sick.

Yet officials with the Department of Health and Environmental Control refrained from making recommendations such as closing down restaurants or requiring people statewide to wear masks.

DHEC officials have spoken frequently with Gov. Henry McMaster and his staff to provide data and discuss best practices on how to protect residents. But the agency doesn't aim to dictate how government runs, said Nick Davidson, incident commander for DHEC’s COVID-19 response.

“We’re not coming in to close certain businesses,” Davidson said. “That’s not the role of public health.”

“If you start looking to public health for how to run the government, you’re probably barking up the wrong tree," he added.

State leaders have previously indicated they would not shut down the state again after businesses began re-opening earlier this year. McMaster has said a statewide mask order could not be enforced, though he has held off on lifting restrictions on certain businesses in the state as cases have spiked since Memorial Day.

Director of Public Health Joan Duwve said Thursday the state is also seeing higher hospitalization rates and an increasing number of COVID-19 patients on ventilators.

Across the state, there are currently 1,433 hospital beds occupied by patients who have either tested positive or are under investigation for COVID-19. Of the state's 1,939 ventilators, 480 are currently in use, 172 of those by COVID-19 patients.

One hospital system, Tidelands Health, requested assistance from the state for staffing support Thursday, EMD spokesman Derrec Becker said.

Though South Carolina's confirmed cases continue to rise, the death rate for COVID-19 has decreased from the start of the pandemic, Duwve said.

Duwve suggested the trend might be attributed to the high number of younger people who have been infected, and who have a lower risk of dying. Healthcare providers have also become more proficient at treating people infected with the virus, she added.

For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. But for others, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, the highly contagious virus can cause severe symptoms and be fatal.

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Follow AP coverage of the pandemic at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak.

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Liu is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.