COLOMBIA, SC (WIS) – After a few months of a steady decline in new cases, deaths and hospitalizations for COVID-19 in South Carolina, a state health leader is concerned about the possibility of change.
“I think people are feeling optimistic because we have had downward trends in the past nine weeks, but it is starting to flatten out. It’s stagnant in South Carolina, ”said Dr. Jane Kelly, assistant epidemiologist at the Department of Health and Environmental Control.
Kelly pointed to a slight increase in the rate of new South Carolina cases per 100,000 people as a warning sign.
“We are seeing increases, dramatic increases in some cases, elsewhere in the United States … Michigan comes to mind. Therefore, we are concerned because we have just had a holiday, people are reuniting with families and feeling a little looser about the mitigation measures related to wearing a mask, we are concerned about the possibility of an outbreak, ”said Kelly .
The timing of another outbreak is unclear to Dr. Kelly, but she anticipates that it could happen about two weeks after counting the recent spike in travel and the incubation period for the virus.
“What we cross our fingers with is that maybe it’s just a small increase, not a dramatic increase,” she said.
According to TSA, over 1.5 million people flew over the holiday weekend, the roads were sometimes congested and people across the state flocked to celebrate the Easter holiday. And with rising temperatures, more companies opening and people continuing to go on vacation in the spring, she said the more contagious variants of the virus could cause an increase in cases.
“If they are more contagious and you have more cases, you will have more deaths, hospitalizations and deaths just because you have a greater number of cases,” she said.
Kelly said that variants of the virus bind more easily to cells and bind more strongly to receptors in our cells than the original strain of COVID-19, which in turn makes it easier for these new variants to spread.
Fortunately, Kelly noted, vaccines are effective against known variants of the virus.
“They may not protect against minor illnesses, but they will protect against serious illnesses,” she said.
However, vaccine hesitation remains a problem, particularly among people in rural communities, minority populations and young people across the state.
She said the reasons why young people, in particular, may be reluctant to receive the vaccine are complicated and can range from a belief that young, healthy people are not at risk of any potential impacts of the virus, fear of side effects. or false belief that you cannot get COVID twice.
“If you had COVID-19, [the vaccine] provides higher levels of antibodies than infection and will help protect you from these new variants, ”said Kelly.
Many young people are not only avoiding being part of the solution to this pandemic, but many are also part of the problem.
According to DHEC data, 17% of all cases of COVID-19 in South Carolina last month occurred among people aged 21 to 30, the highest figure of any age group.
Kelly believes that social events at the end of the school year, such as parties and graduation celebrations, can also lead to an increase in cases among young people from South Carolina, which can increase the likelihood of a state and national increase, as students leave your college campuses during the year go home.
There is a silver lining, however, said Kelly.
“I am cautiously optimistic that this fall will start to look more normal, and a lot depends on what happens in the coming weeks, with people being vaccinated and avoiding a huge increase that only serves to spread these variants even further,” she said.
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