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A dozen teens gathered Monday night near a pair of pickups with glowing wheels in the parking lot of fast-food joint on Clemson Boulevard in Anderson. Two girls in the group hugged while a couple of boys high-fived.

None of them wore masks.

It was precisely the type of scene that worriesofficials who are watching COVID-19 infections surge among the younger residents of South Carolina.

Clusters of cases involvingteenagers who visited Myrtle Beach are attracting national attention.

AtClemson University, 37 of 120 football players tested positivefor the coronavirusin June.

People under age 40 now account for more than half of the 36,297 confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Carolina. Cases in those between the ages of 21 and 30 have soared by 966% since early April, according to the state Department of Health of Environmental Control.

While the virus might not cause severe sickness in otherwise healthy people in their teens, 20s or 30s, state epidemiologist Dr. Linda Bell said there are "disheartening increases in young people transmitting the virus to their family and friends," according to a DHEC press release.

At a news conference last week, Gov. Henry McMaster implored residents under age 40 "to follow the rules."

"We know that young people can have this disease and not know it.They feel completely healthy, yet they are completely infected, and they can easily pass that on to older people," he said. "I want to say in the strongest, most urgent terms: Keep that social distance, particularly if it's your parents, your grandparents or anyone older than you are. Be very, very careful. Keep that distance, wear that mask, wash your hands and be considerate.

"It is deadly important that we do that."

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster speaks with reporters after the first meeting of accelerateSC, his advisory group about reopening the state economy, on Thursday, April 23, 2020, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)(Photo: Meg Kinnard, AP)

In June, new cases of COVID-19 increased nearly 200% throughout South Carolina, and the number of hospitalized patients more than doubled. COVID-19 has now claimed at least 735 lives in the state.

And DHEC officials issued a new warning with a press release this week ahead of Independence Day. They urgedSouth Carolinians to avoid large gatherings:

"The agency recommends families instead celebrate the Fourth of July by planning home-based festivities and watching fireworks shows while remaining in their vehicles or tuning into celebrations virtually."

Dozens of students from Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia have tested positive for COVID-19 after vacationing in Myrtle Beach in the past few weeks, according to published reports.

A Myrtle Beach TV station reported Tuesday on an outbreak involving about 100 teenagers from the Washington, D.C., area who returned from a recent trip to South Carolina's top tourist destination. The report cited an email from the health director forLoudon County, Virginia, that said that up to 50 people were staying in single homes and that there were parties that more than 100 people attended in Myrtle Beach.

Karen Riordan, president and CEO of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, said she also heard about COVID-19 cases involving a group of 90 students from a Columbia high school who did not wear masks or practice social distancing while visitinga Grand Strand beach.

"Obviously that is a regrettable situation," Riordan said. "Unfortunately we can't control all human behavior."

Riordan said there have been problems with young people who "consider themselves to be immortal" who have been vacationing in Myrtle Beach and elsewhere in the state.

She mentioned a busload of students from Ohio who admitted after returning home from Myrtle Beach that "they had not worn masks and they had not practiced social distancing and they pretty much ignored all of the guidelines."

"First and foremost, we are very sorry that people got sick," Riordansaid. "It's terrible. It's certainly not good for our local or our national reputation."

Beth Short, left, and James Jones, middle, of Atlanta, walk with Chris Scott to the shore after fishing in the Atlantic Ocean in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina Wednesday, May 6, 2020. (Photo: Ken Ruinard / staff)

The number of new COVID-19 cases in Horry County, which is home to Myrtle Beach, skyrocketed by more than 600% in June.

"There is a lot of concern and alarm by our business community but also our residents," Riordan said. "We've been doing such a good job until June in keeping the cases in Horry County actually quite low."

Down the coast in Charleston County, 1,771 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the past week, including 375 on Tuesday alone, according to DHEC.

In comparison, there were 1,190 new COVID-19 cases during the past week in Greenville County, which state officials classified as a "hot spot" last month.

The Greenville City Council passed a measure last week requiring residents to wear masks in grocery stores and pharmacies. Several other cities, including Charleston, Clemson and Columbia, have followed suit byadopting similar rules.

McMaster and DHEC officials spoke about the COVID-19 outbreaks and cases spreading at the state's beaches during last week's news conference.

"We're hearing stories about groups coming back from the beach with just about everybody who was in the group infected," McMaster said.

These outbreaks "put the health of their families and their entire communities at risk," said Dr. Joan Duwve, DHEC's public health director.

Duwverecommended that anyone that has visited a South Carolina beach who did not wear a mask or practice social distancing should get tested for COVID-19.

Yet while health officials fret about increasing COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations across the state, the Myrtle Beach chamber is running TV ads in 60 markets across the nation, Riordan said.

State tourism officials also are spending $1 million on a mostly digital advertising campaign that will extend through the end of July in hopes of attracting visitors who live within 375 miles ofSouth Carolina.

One of the videos added to the Discover South Carolina YouTube channel last month features a lifeguard on a beach. The ad tells potential visitors,"When you're ready, we're ready."

In the month following Memorial Day, COVID-19 cases across the nation in people under 17 years of age jumped by 144%, according to a USA TODAY analysis of data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.

As the number of new COVID-19 infections in the U.S. topped 40,000 per day for the first time since the pandemic began, Vice President Mike Pence and members of the federal coronavirus task force held a media briefing last Friday in Washington, D.C.

"The overwhelming majority of people now getting infected are young people," Dr. Anthony Fauci,director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said during the briefing.

Responding to rising COVID-19 cases, officials in South Florida and Los Angeles have announced that they are closing beaches for the Fourth of July weekend.

Bars, gyms, movie theaters and water parks are shutting down in Arizona for the next 30 days.

Pence sought to put a positive spin on the increasing rate of infections in younger people by stressing that they are less susceptible than older individuals to serious outcomes of coronavirus.

"The fact that we are finding more younger Americans who've contracted the coronavirus is a good thing," Pence said at last week's briefing.

But, he cautioned, younger people with COVID-19 must act responsibly.

"We need them to do their part to make sure and protect the most vulnerable," he said.

Kirk Brown covers government and politics. Follow him on Twitter @KirkBrown_AIM

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Young people 'who consider themselves to be immortal' are spreading coronavirus in SC - Greenville News