TRI-COUNTY, S.C. — If it hasn’t affected you or your family, it’s easy to forget that we are still in the midst of a pandemic and this week’s numbers have returned to an all-time high.
Medical experts say with the flu season and holidays coming, it’s even more important to take precautions.
People from York and Chester counties, and even as far as Charlotte coming to Riverview Family Medicine in Rock Hill to get tested and receive care.
Hospitals around the area are preparing the best they can to deal with the volume of patients that could be coming in.
We spoke with a physician assistant from the hospital who breaks down the numbers and what he says led to the surge.
“We’ve definitely seen a surge in positive cases. To date our clinic locally since the pandemic began, we’ve done almost 14,000 tests ourselves,” said Steve Shepard, physician assistant at Riverview. “Before this latest surge, we would say our positive rate would be about 5 to 10 percent. Now, we are seeing days where it’s 20 percent, so 1 out of 5 is positive, so definitely a huge increase. I think it’s a combination of people let their guard down. It’s become almost just kind of background noise, and people are not really taking it seriously when they most definitely should. Ya know, restaurants have opened up and schools are back in session and just there’s more interaction with people and you don’t get it from the environment, primarily you get it from another person and so when you’re in close proximity, ya know it’s going to get ya.”
Shepard says the best step you can do right now is to get your flu vaccine. That along with monitoring social distancing, wearing your mask and avoiding large crowds, even if it means backing down on some of those holiday traditions. This seems like something we’ve heard before, but we’re told its even more crucial now.
The doctor also adds symptoms of flu and Coronavirus mirror each other. Fortunately, Riverview is working on a test that can test both the flu and Coronavirus symptoms with one swab, something he says will expedite patient testing.
So, what are the numbers and what’s the best way to read them? We know it’s confusing but here’s a simplified breakdown of the latest numbers.
The percentage positive rate statewide is 14.7 percent, which is high.
But also to keep in mind, there is 91 percent recovery rate of those diagnosed.
Nearly 200,000 people have tested positive for COVID-19 and nearly 4,000 people have died in our state.
You can see on your screen the latest positive cases of COVID-19 here in the Tri-County.
According to South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, to date, Chester stands at nearly 1,400 cases, Lancaster nearly 3,000 and here in York county by far the most at nearly 8,000 cases. And nearly a thousand of them just in the last 2 weeks.
As for our primary schools, in general, they’ve been holding fairly steady, the high school seeing the most cases on average.
