Free coronavirus testing near Bluffton, Sun City on Thursday. What you need to know
A free coronavirus testing site will be open near Bluffton and Sun City on Thursday.
The drive-thru testing clinic is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the University of South Carolina Beaufort’s Bluffton campus.
No appointments or doctors’ referrals are needed to get tested. The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control is running the clinic alongside the state’s National Guard.
As of Monday, about 380,000 viral COVID-19 tests had been administered in South Carolina, according to DHEC data released Tuesday.
Another free testing event was held Monday on Hilton Head Island. Over 1,500 people were tested at that drive-thru clinic, and some early arrivals were stuck in traffic for hours on U.S. 278.
The recent testing push comes amid a surge of coronavirus cases around the Lowcountry. Beaufort County on Tuesday logged its highest seven-day average of diagnosed COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began. The county also posted a record-breaking single-day high of 70 newly confirmed cases Tuesday.
A total of 1,219 COVID-19 cases have been identified in the county this year, according to the state’s Tuesday data. Bluffton has led the county in cases, with 303 recorded in the 29910 zip code.
As South Carolina’s caseload continues to spike, DHEC officials have pleaded with Palmetto State residents to wear masks and practice social distancing. Local leaders have also voted to implement a patchwork of mandatory masking requirements just before the Fourth of July.
“The virus is rapidly spreading across the state, with some of the largest increases in our coastal communities,” said Joan Duwve, DHEC’s director of public health, in a news release Tuesday. “We’ve all given so much for so long, and we all want to be at our beautiful beaches, at our parks, our friends’ houses, our block parties and community events, but I’m asking all of us to stay vigilant in the fight against this deadly virus.”
