‘Significant surge’: Rise in COVID cases impacting York, Lancaster, Chester region
The recent rise of newly reported COVID-19 cases in York, Lancaster and Chester counties are pushing once-low numbers to now match those seen at the height of the pandemic, data shows.
However, at a public panel Thursday, medical professionals from this region — joined by state epidemiologist Dr. Linda Bell — had one message: History does not have to repeat itself.
Despite the alarming rise across the state of the highly transmissible Delta variant, vaccines and masks can prevent cases from rising further, and put an end to the pandemic, Bell said.
“If someone has waited for any reason to be vaccinated, it’s never too late to get vaccinated now,” she said.
Wednesday, Bell said during a media briefing that South Carolina is experiencing its second-highest rate of daily new coronavirus cases. Earlier that day, South Carolina health officials reported that the state had tallied more than 10,000 deaths associated with COVID-19.
“I have never been more concerned about the health of our state than I am at this time,” Bell told reporters Wednesday.
Every South Carolina county is experiencing high community transmission, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is defined as 100 cases per 100,000 people. And calculations from the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control echo the CDC.
All 46 S.C. counties, including York, Lancaster and Chester, are reporting high incidence rates, which accounts for 200-plus new cases per 100,000 people in a two-week period, for new COVID-19 cases, DHEC data show.
York, Lancaster and Chester counties on Thursday logged averages of new coronavirus cases that are rising to numbers reported in December 2020 — right before the pandemic’s height in January, according to DHEC.
York County’s seven-day average of new cases, as of Thursday, was 127 new infections per day, according to DHEC data. In early December, the county was averaging around 190. As of Thursday, Lancaster County’s seven-day average was 35 new cases per day. In early December, the county was averaging around 55.
And Chester County’s recent seven-day average was 14 cases per day, according to DHEC. The county was averaging around 20 in early December.
“We’re looking at a public health crisis,” Bell said.
Hospitalizations on rise
The number of patients hospitalized as a result of COVID-19 in South Carolina has tripled in just three weeks, Bell said Wednesday. As of Monday, around 79% of hospital beds across the state were occupied, and 13% of all patients were diagnosed with COVID-19, according to DHEC data.
Lancaster hospital officials are feeling the pinch of increasing hospitalizations, Edward McCutcheon, chief medical officer at Medical University of South Carolina Lancaster, said Thursday.
“As of yesterday, our ventilator use is nearly close to 100%,” he said. “A lot of folks don’t have the boots on the ground experience that we’re seeing. The real deal here is that we’re experiencing a significant surge of COVID-19.”
This also means hospitals are struggling to take care of non-COVID patients.
“It’s August and I’ve never seen this in the emergency departments,” McCutcheon said. “I’ve confirmed this with my colleagues in Charlotte and other regions throughout the state. Emergency doctors are calling around asking, ‘do you have any ICU beds?’ That to me is scary because it’s August. We’re not even in flu season, and we’re already experiencing capacity issues.”
But panelists stressed that this spike in case numbers is different: Not only are there guidelines to slow the spread of coronavirus, but this time around, there’s also vaccine.
“We are seeing the unfolding of all these deaths before our eyes,” Bell said Thursday. “Do not miss the opportunity that is presented to you. I urge everyone to please give consideration to these measures.”
‘We are no longer helpless’
When the state hit 10,000 deaths Wednesday, Bell said “I asked myself, what more could we have done as public health officials? What more could I have done personally to have prevented those deaths?”
Medical professionals now know that the coronavirus is a vaccine-preventable disease, Bell said.
“If we adopt the evidence-based practices and increase our vaccination coverage as quickly as possible, to outrun the delta variant, we can drastically reduce transmission in South Carolina within a matter of weeks,” Bell said. “This is within our control.”
Panelists stressed that it’s up to the public.
“My personal assessment (at the beginning) was that the only way out of this is a safe, effective vaccine,” Roy A. Still, a retired physician who served Lancaster for 40 years, said during the panel Thursday. “And fortunately, we’ve been blessed with that reality. We are no longer helpless, nor are we hopeless.”
There’s also a higher threat of spread as students return to school in the coming weeks, Bell said. Those who are eligible should get vaccinated to help protect school-age children who are not eligible for the vaccine, she said.
“We must implement multiple prevention strategies to protect those children, and use them together and consistently to keep our schools safe,” she said.
Preventing clusters of infections in schools also will help to ensure that students can continue receiving face-to-face instruction, she said. When safety measures were practiced last school year, schools were the “safest place to be in our communities.”
“Our schools will not be the safest place to be,” she said, “But we can change that.”
There are other methods of increasing safety — measures that those who elect not to be vaccinated or cannot get vaccinated can practice.
Bell listed tips tips such as:
- Staying home when sick
- Keeping students home when they are sick
- Getting tested frequently
- Cleaning and disinfecting surfaces
- Social distancing
- Proper ventilation in schools
- Universal indoor masking of “all staff, teachers and all visitors in K through 12 schools.”
While state law prohibits schools from mandating masks, students, teachers and visitors can elect to wear them.
“All of these recommendations are simple,” Still said. “They’re easy, they’re cheap. They’re common sense, and they make a significant difference. When they’re done by everyone, especially among the unvaccinated, masks protect that child, their neighbors’ child, protect their teachers and their teachers’ families.”
He added: “The sooner we follow these guidelines, the quicker we can put this crisis in our review mirrors.”
This story was originally published August 12, 2021 at 5:42 PM.
