(Above video was revealed on Might 18, 2022.)
The South Carolina Division of Well being and Environmental Management despatched out a plea Friday as COVID-19 ranges throughout the state and the nation start to rise: Get vaccinated, boosted and put on a masks when you reside in areas with rising coronavirus ranges.
In a launch, DHEC urged residents to trace community-level unfold within the county the place they reside and work and comply with the prevention steps to take based mostly on the most recent information.
The CDC map supplied by DHEC reveals your entire Upstate is within the low-level zone. South Carolina’s Marlboro and Dillion counties had been the one counties within the state displaying excessive ranges of COVID-19 circumstances.
One other 14 counties, from Richland and Lexington within the Midlands to Charleston, Berkeley and Horry counties alongside the coast, are displaying medium ranges of circumstances.
“A part of treating COVID-19 as an endemic virus is recognizing that we have to know the present group stage and the steps to take to remain virus-free,” Dr. Edward Simmer, DHEC Director mentioned. “We’re seeing extra medium and excessive transmission throughout South Carolina, so we strongly encourage our residents to comply with all suggestions, together with masking, staying residence when sick, and being vaccinated, together with boosters when eligible, that may assist deliver these numbers again down.”
The Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC) updates its COVID-19 Group Degree map each Thursday night time and gives a snapshot of COVID-19 ranges in every county. Residents can go to the interactive map or use the county test device on DHEC’s group ranges web page to view ranges of their space.
Right here is the masking steerage for the varied county ranges:
- For low ranges of COVID-19 in a group, masking is “not wanted in most settings,” however stays elective for people.
- In communities with medium ranges of COVID-19, people who’re at increased threat of contracting COVID-19 in addition to those that are frequently round immunocompromised people are inspired to masks up, whereas it’s elective for others.
- In communities with excessive ranges of COVID-19, masking is really helpful in indoor settings, together with colleges and workplaces.
Along with following the masking steerage, residents ought to comply with the vaccination and booster steerage, in addition to the quarantine and isolation steerage, outlined on DHEC’s endemic web page. The web page additionally has steerage on when to get examined and the place to search out free, speedy antigen exams.
“We all know the summer season season brings extra vacationing and public occasions, which creates extra alternatives for virus unfold,” Simmer mentioned. “So we’re asking everybody to make use of common sense and take the mandatory precautions to remain nicely themselves and to guard their household and mates. COVID-19 continues to be a lethal virus that’s claiming lives each week, and all of us play a task in holding ourselves and our fellow South Carolinians secure.”
DHEC’s information and dashboards web page follows weekly information developments, and the company’s major COVID-19 web page gives different essential data.