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Ex-Myrtle Beach mayor dies of COVID-19 as SC cases grow

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — A former mayor of the South Carolina city of Myrtle Beach has died of complications from COVID-19, the city reported Sunday.

The city’s website says John Rhodes died Saturday night.

The City of Myrtle Beach mourns the loss of former Mayor John Rhodes. Our hearts, prayers and thoughts are with his...

Posted by Myrtle Beach City Government on Sunday, January 17, 2021

Rhodes served as mayor from January 2006 through December 2017.

The news of his death comes as the health department in South Carolina reports 4,584 newly confirmed cases and 76 new confirmed deaths. Those figures, posted Sunday, were current as of midnight Friday.

The latest numbers push the total number of confirmed cases in the state over 350,000.

The Post and Courier reports that record numbers of new cases were recorded in the first two weeks of January.

The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control resolved a systems issue Saturday that had kept data incomplete over the past week, and officials belatedly reported that on Jan. 8, the state set a daily record of 6,924 new COVID-19 cases, a substantial increase from previous records.