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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 14, 2020
COLUMBIA, SC – As the number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise to record highs in South Carolina, public health officials today announced that the state will change its containment efforts into community-based mitigation measures to slow the spread of the virus. Southern Carolinians are called upon to help by continuing to take actions that we know are working – wear a mask and practice physical distancing.
“As COVID-19 continues to spread in our communities at an astounding rate, we call on Southern Carolinians to take immediate action to stop the spread of COVID-19 in our communities,” said Dr Brannon Traxler, Acting Director of Public Health in the Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) at SC. “Until COVID-19 vaccines become more readily available and enough people are vaccinated, we all must act now or continue to deal with an unprecedented number of cases that plague our hospitals and systems of health, as well as the death of those we love. To do this, each of us must re-engage in combat. We are all on the front lines. If we don’t act now, we could face many dark months to come.
During containment, efforts are made to control the spread of the disease by investigating each case and all who come in contact with them. The shift from a phase of disease containment to a phase of disease mitigation occurs when cases of disease are widespread and difficult to investigate one by one. Information on mitigation strategies is available on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.
More Southern Carolinians fall ill with COVID-19
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) today confirmed 4,809 new confirmed cases and 136 new probable cases of COVID-19, 18 additional confirmed deaths and 5 new probable deaths. The increases come as South Carolina faces new records for the highest number of total new cases and highest positivity rate – reaching 5,077 new cases on Wednesday January 6 and a positive rate of 34.2% Tuesday January 5..
In the first two weeks of 2021 alone, 45,210 South Carolina residents were confirmed to be infected with COVID-19, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in South Carolina to 337,845, probable cases to 33,335, confirmed deaths at 5,420 and 514 probable deaths.
This is happening as South Carolina, like other states across the country, continues to face an unprecedented increase in patient hospitalizations, resulting in decreased availability of beds in our emergency departments, hospitals, our intensive care units (ICU) and ventilator supply. .
Use of hospital beds and ventilators
As of this morning, acute care hospitals in South Carolina are nearing capacity and emergency departments are overwhelmed. Of 11,329 hospital beds currently used for patient care, 2 427 are attended by patients who have tested positive or are under investigation for COVID-19. In addition, from the 1,754 Intensive care beds currently used for patient care, 465 are occupied by patients with COVID-19. During this time of 1 948 fans available, 744 are in use and 290 of these are COVID-19 patients. Many state hospitals are now canceling elective services to deal with the overwhelming increase in patient numbers.
Southern Carolinians encouraged to know their status; Get tested regularly
DHEC strongly encourages South Carolinians to get tested regularly in order to know their status for COVID-19 and to take action. As part of its mitigation strategy, DHEC continues to work with community partners across the state to improve access to COVID-19 testing. To date, South Carolina has led more than 4.16 million COVID-19 tests, which includes the results of more 2,074,355 separate people (40% of the state’s population). In addition, over 300 test events are open today statewide.
However, the sharp increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in the state is forcing public health officials to focus their efforts on maximizing the effectiveness of case and contact investigations.
State takes mitigating action to make the most of case and contact investigations
Mitigation measures aim to make the best use of case and contact investigations to help public health officials focus on how best to prevent the spread of the disease.
During the mitigation phase, contact investigation efforts shift from trying to find close contacts of each individual case to prioritizing case investigations of those who have tested positive or have been diagnosed with COVID. -19 in the last 6 days.
From now on, contact investigators will focus their contact tracing efforts on:
- household contacts exposed in the last 6 days, and
- people living, working or visiting shared living spaces, high density workplaces or other places (or events) where wide dissemination is possible.
Southern Carolinians should not expect to be individually informed that they have been exposed to a case.
How can I help you?
Everyone must play a role in preventing the spread during the mitigation phase. Public health officials stress the importance of wearing a mask, practicing physical distancing, staying home and away from other people when sick, and washing your hands often, as in cases of illness. have been reported in your immediate community.
“Our chance for the best results depends on all of us,” Dr Traxler said. “We need South Carolinians to continue to unite to fight this disease by taking small steps that make a big difference, including wearing your mask, getting tested and staying home when you are sick. , avoiding large gatherings, practicing physical distancing, and when it is your turn to get the vaccine.
People showing signs of illness should stay home and avoid public gatherings.
For the latest information on COVID-19, visit scdhec.gov/covid19.
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