| Greenville News
Nearly 30% percent of COVID-19 tests tested positive in Anderson and Greenville counties over a recent week, indicating that respiratory disease continues to spread rapidly.
Between December 11 and 18, 29.9% of the COVID-19 tests in Anderson County were positive, according to data from the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.
In Greenville County, 29.8% of COVID-19 tests during the same period were positive. So far this month, 27.1% of Greenville’s tests have been positive.
The numbers are not much better in Pickens and Spartanburg counties. In Pickens, 28.2% of the COVID-19 tests were positive between 11 and 18 December. The positivity rate for Spartanburg was 27.8% in the same period.
Across the state, 22.2% of COVID-19 tests were positive between December 11 and December 18.
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The percentages of positive COVID-19 tests in the interior and throughout South Carolina are significantly higher than in neighboring Georgia and North Carolina. Georgia on Saturday reported a test positivity rate of less than 13% and North Carolina reported a test positivity rate of 10.6% on Friday.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a positive test rate of 5% or less over a period of 14 days indicates that the coronavirus is being well controlled in a community.
New York City closed its public schools last month, when the test’s positive rate rose to more than 3%.
The number of new COVID-19 cases is also high in the interior of the state
Until Friday, the interior of the state led the state in the seven-day moving average of new cases of COVID19, according to DHEC.
Upstate had a weekly average of 1,146 new daily cases, compared to 776 in the Midlands, 522 in Pee Dee and 397 in Low Country.
South Carolina has set several daily records for new COVID-19 cases this month. The most recent daily record occurred on Friday, when the state recorded 3,648 cases.
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Experts hope that the recent approval of two COVID-19 vaccines will end the ongoing pandemic. But the biggest vaccination effort in US history will take months to complete.
DHEC officials say more than 7,000 health workers have been vaccinated across the state and expect new shipments of the vaccine soon. The state expects between 200,000 and 300,000 doses of vaccines by the end of the year.
Kirk Brown covers government, growth and politics for The Greenville News. Contact him at [email protected] or on Twitter @KirkBrown_AIM.