South Carolina was one of the last states to issue an order to stay at home. Then, on May 4, he was one of the first to reopen. Six weeks after the reopening, he has the dubious distinction of being among the 22 states where new cases of coronavirus are on the rise, an ABC News analysis of the New York Times data revealed.
“In the past two weeks, we’ve seen some of our highest daily numbers of cases since the pandemic began,” said physician Linda Bell, a state epidemiologist, at a news conference on Wednesday.
Hotspots in the state include Greenville, Lexington and Richland, according to Bell.
More than 16,400 people in that state were infected by the virus on Friday night. Six hundred people died.
Although some states with increasing cases (an increasing number in the last 14 days), such as Montana, Hawaii and Alaska, have so few general infections that the increase in their relatives is not significant, South Carolina has seen a sharp increase in new cases in last few weeks.
When the state’s home stay application expired in early May, there were about 160 new cases being diagnosed each day in South Carolina. On June 11, South Carolina’s seven-day moving average for new HIV infections COVID-19, which is responsible for fluctuations in cases, was 491 per day.
An ABC News analysis of data from The New York Times found that new positive cases and hospitalizations increased in South Carolina. Although testing in the state has also increased, the rate of positive tests has also increased. A high rate of positivity may be a sign that a state is just testing its sickest patients and is unable to launch a network large enough to accurately capture community transmission, according to Johns Hopkins University.
As of June 10, 12.9% of new tests in South Carolina were positive, compared to a positivity rate of 2.7% in late May, Bell explained. “Today I am more concerned with COVID-19 in South Carolina than ever,” she said. The state has seen a continued upward trend in new coronavirus cases since Memorial Day, she added.
“There is a general consensus that this number should be well below 10%,” said Dr. Howard Koh, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health TH Chan, who worked in the Department of Health and Human Services during the Obama administration. South Korea, which is considered a global leader for its response to COVID-19, has never had a positive test rate above 1% or 2%, he said.
“It’s very high,” said Koh of South Carolina’s positivity test rate. “It’s very worrying.”
Despite the concerns of health experts, Republican Governor Henry McMaster has unequivocally promised that he will not issue new orders to stay at home or demand that southern Carolans wear masks in public.
“We cannot keep companies closed forever; we cannot isolate South Carolina from the rest of the world,” McMaster said at a news conference on Wednesday.
Instead, the governor is shifting responsibility to citizens. “The answer is individual responsibility, not government mandates,” McMaster told reporters.
“Each state has to make its own decision, but often the pandemic drives the decision because of its impact on cases, hospitals and deaths,” said Koh. Meanwhile, targeted testing in high-risk areas, social distance and wearing a face mask is crucial, he said.
Indeed, a Berkeley study published in the journal Nature this week found that interventions such as school closings and requests to stay at home delayed or prevented more than 60 million infections in China, South Korea, Italy, Iran, France and the United States .
“Social detachment can save lives,” said Koh. “This is what public health is about. Until we have vaccine and therapy, we need to maximize the power of prevention ”.
“When we identify a critical point, we immediately dig deep and perform more in-depth analysis of the data and research these areas so that we can direct more resources there, work to expand the tests and take further action as needed” the response team spokesperson emergency told ABC News.
“Our epidemiologists and contact trackers continue to reach every individual in the state who has tested positive for COVID-19,” she added.
Hospitalizations are also on the rise in South Carolina, according to an analysis of public data from ABC News over the past two weeks. “This is what we must monitor closely,” said Koh.
“If hospitals are overcrowded in South Carolina, people who need care will not be able to receive it in a timely manner,” he warned.
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