Beaufort County’s COVID-19 surge intensifies: ‘The Delta variant is a game-changer’
There’s still no sign that Beaufort County’s latest coronavirus surge will slow down any time soon.
The county’s average positivity rate, as of Thursday, rose to 20.7%, which suggests that COVID-19 is rapidly spreading throughout the area. That’s the highest the rate has been since mid-2020, when the Sun Belt’s summer surge hit Beaufort County after the Fourth of July.
Two new COVID-19 deaths were also recorded in the county Thursday, according to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control. There have been four coronavirus fatalities reported in Beaufort County since the beginning of June.
On Wednesday, meanwhile, 111 coronavirus infections were confirmed in the county, marking the highest daily case count since Jan. 28.
The county’s seven-day average of newly confirmed cases, as of Thursday, increased to 78 infections per day. In comparison, the average was 82 cases per day on Aug. 5, 2020.
“The Delta variant is a game-changer,” said Dr. Faith Polkey, chief clinical officer at Beaufort Jasper Hampton Comprehensive Health Services. “It surprised a lot of us in public health.”
The super-contagious variant, which was first discovered in India, has hit South Carolina hard in recent weeks, exploiting the state’s low vaccination rate.
Only 43.4% of Beaufort County’s estimated population has been fully inoculated, according to DHEC and U.S. Census Bureau estimates.
“The main thing people need to do is get vaccinated,” Polkey said. “That is going to help slow this down.”
The signs of Delta’s impact are everywhere: Mask debates have returned. Local hospitals are handling an uptick in COVID-19 patients. And coronavirus quarantines have already started at the Beaufort County School District, though the first day of school is Aug. 16.
Battery Creek High School’s football team and Beaufort High School’s junior varsity cheerleading team — totaling about 50 people — are both quarantining, BCSD spokesperson Candace Bruder confirmed Thursday.
Here’s a look at DHEC’s latest COVID-19 data for Beaufort County:
New cases reported Thursday: 75 confirmed, 18 probable
New cases reported Wednesday: 111 confirmed, 29 probable
New cases reported Tuesday: 74 confirmed
Deaths reported between Tuesday and Thursday: 2
Seven-day case average: 78 infections per day
Two-week incidence rate: 606.4 cases per 100,000 people
“There’s still a lot of unvaccinated people, and those people are still getting really sick. They’re still dying. They’re ending up at the hospital,” Polkey said. “We’re going to see high numbers from those folks.”
Note: Data in this story are current as of Thursday afternoon.
