‘The wrong direction’: As Delta spreads, how bad is Beaufort Co.’s COVID-19 outbreak?
South Carolina’s coronavirus outbreak is “tipping in the wrong direction.”
That’s according to Dr. Brannon Traxler, the state’s public health director.
The numbers support Traxler’s outlook: COVID-19 hospitalizations, as of last Wednesday, were up 39.4% statewide since June 23, with 205 coronavirus patients admitted at medical centers, Traxler said at the time. The number of Delta variant infections also quadrupled last week. And the average percentage of positive COVID-19 tests in South Carolina has now spiked to 6%, which means the coronavirus’ spread is not under control, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Unvaccinated people are fueling the pandemic, especially unvaccinated young people,” Traxler said.
But what about Beaufort County? How is the Lowcountry faring during the latest spike in disease transmission, which experts partially attribute to Delta, a super-contagious variant?
Some of the area’s virus metrics have started to trend “in the wrong direction,” as Traxler put it.
Here’s a look at the data.
The bad news
Beaufort County’s seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases has started to rise again. The average was 8.4 infections per day as of Monday. In comparison, the average was 4.1 cases per day in mid-June.
The county’s average percentage of positive tests, meanwhile, is now 5%. That’s up from 1.4% on June 19.
Beaufort County’s two-week incidence rate as of Monday rose to 54.7 cases per 100,000 people, which is a “moderate” rate under the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control’s definition. The county previously had a “low” rate.
Beaufort Memorial Hospital on Monday had eight COVID-19 patients admitted to the medical center, with two of those people in the intensive care unit. One person was on a ventilator, according to Courtney McDermott, a hospital spokeswoman.
Hilton Head Regional Healthcare, meanwhile, was treating three coronavirus patients as of Monday, with one person in an ICU, said Daisy Burroughs, a spokeswoman for Tenet Healthcare.
There’s still plenty of other Beaufort County residents susceptible to the pathogen, too.
Only 42.5% of the county’s estimated population, including children, have been fully vaccinated, DHEC data show. And just 5.3% of Beaufort County residents 20 to 24 have received at least one dose of a vaccine, according to DHEC and U.S. Census Bureau estimates.
The Medical University of South Carolina has estimated that 61% of the county’s population has some form of immunity against the coronavirus, including those previously infected who did not get inoculated.
Regardless, Beaufort County’s vaccination numbers are of particular concern given Delta’s rapid spread around the Palmetto State.
Delta, which is highly transmissible and can sidestep part of the body’s vaccine-induced immune response, is surging in states with low vaccination rates, including Missouri and Arkansas. DHEC for weeks has been warning that a similar uptick is possible in South Carolina, especially after the Fourth of July, given how only 43.8% of residents 12 or older have been fully vaccinated.
DHEC as of last Wednesday had identified 12 Delta cases in the Lowcountry public health region, which stretches from Beaufort County to Calhoun County.
The good news
Coronavirus vaccines are still effective against the Delta variant.
A Public Health England study published May 22, for example, found that two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were 88% effective against symptomatic cases of the Delta variant.
But one dose of Pfizer’s vaccine was only 33% effective against symptomatic Delta cases. That’s down from the 50% one-dose efficacy against the Alpha variant, which was first discovered in the United Kingdom.
(Moderna and Johnson & Johnson recently announced that their vaccines have also remained protective against Delta.)
Look to Beaufort County’s recent data on coronavirus fatalities: DHEC has recorded only one COVID-19 death in the county since the beginning of June.
That’s likely due to the county’s high vaccination rate among seniors, who are among the most vulnerable to COVID-19. DHEC as of Monday reported that 86% of residents 65 or older have received at least one dose.
“The vast majority of people who are getting hospitalized and dying from COVID-19 are those who are not fully vaccinated,” Traxler recently told reporters. “I cannot stress it enough: COVID-19 is now a vaccine-preventable disease. South Carolinians don’t need to continue to die.”
What’s next?
Public health officials are pleading with unvaccinated residents to roll up their sleeves for a shot.
Inoculating more people is crucial to limiting Delta’s impact in South Carolina, experts say.
“We are all longing to return to the way things were before COVID-19, and if you’re fully vaccinated, you can do almost everything that you used to do,” Traxler said. “If you’re not fully vaccinated, however, you can’t return to normal safely. Wearing your mask and physical distancing is still your responsibility.”
Note: Data in this story are current as of Monday afternoon.
This story was originally published July 19, 2021 at 3:13 PM.
