DHEC Confirms Second Case Of COVID-19 In Lancaster County

LANCASTER COUNTY, S.C. (CN2 NEWS) — The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) is now reporting a second presumed positive case of COVID-19 in Lancaster County.

Health officials say the latest case is man who had direct household contact with the woman in the first case.  He is now isolated at home, while the woman is hospitalized.

South Carolina now has six presumptive positive cases, and six confirmed positive cases, according to DHEC.  Cases are presumed positive until they are confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Lancaster County leaders are closing county libraries and cancelling all Parks and Recreation events until April 6th.

Doris Hush stopped at the library to return books, but she says she is not worried about the coronavirus.

“I’m just not worried about illness,” said Hush, “When it’s my time, it’s my time.”

Another resident, Vivian Crockett, says she is also not afraid, but is grateful that the county is taking action to protect people.

“It’s better to be precautions. I’d rather they cancel everything,” said Crockett.

Emergency Management leaders say they are constantly monitoring the situation.

“We don’t know who all this person has had contact with,” said Emergency Management Director Darren Player, “We wanted to cancel those events so that nothing the county has control over ends up causing this to be worse than it already is.”

The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in Lancaster reported that the woman in the first case, who DHEC says is hospitalized, is not one of its patients.

However the hospital has enforced a strict visitation policy, restricting patient visits at the Rehabilitation Center, which is the entire seventh floor, and the Behavioral Unit.

The hospital says these units have patients who are considered at risk because of their age. Visitors will not be allowed at the two units without prior administrative approval.

 

Previous articleCN2 Picture of the Day 3-12-2020
Next articleCN2 Digital Dashboard 3-12-2020