As omicron spreads, how is Beaufort County faring with COVID-19? Here are the numbers
Omicron is surging in the Northeast and parts of the Midwest. And it now accounts for more than 95% of new coronavirus infections in the Southeast, federal health officials estimate.
But as the variant complicates the holiday season, how is Beaufort County faring with COVID-19?
So far, the county still is much better off than it was at this time last year, though experts warn that omicron could hit the entire nation hard in January, as the super-contagious variant races through unvaccinated and vaccinated populations.
While some research indicates that omicron infections appear to be milder than cases caused by the delta variant, a tidal wave of infections could still inundate health care systems, experts say.
“If there are 3 times more cases & severity/case is 40% lower, that’ll still result in far more hospitalizations & deaths than w/ Delta (which was truly awful),” wrote Dr. Bob Wachter, department of medicine chair at University of California, San Francisco, in a recent tweet.
To avoid the worst-case scenario, the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control is sticking to a familiar message: Get vaccinated, get your booster shot if eligible, try to celebrate the holidays outside and wear face masks in crowded indoor settings.
“Looking at what omicron has done in other places, like in the United Kingdom ... we certainly could see a significant increase in cases,” said Dr. Brannon Traxler, the state’s director of public health, during a Dec. 15 briefing with reporters.
Comparing the numbers
At this time last year, Beaufort County was averaging 72 new cases per day, DHEC data show.
Now, though, it is averaging 19 infections per day.
That’s only a slight increase from two weeks ago, when the average was 13 cases per day.
The average percentage of weekly positive COVID-19 tests in the county, meanwhile, was 7.2% on Monday. A year prior, that average was 11.2%.
Beaufort Memorial Hospital, as of Tuesday, was treating seven COVID-19 patients. Two of those people were in the intensive care unit. One person was on a ventilator, a spokeswoman confirmed.
About a year ago, the hospital had almost 30 coronavirus patients, CEO Russell Baxley said at the time.
Countywide data
Here are the latest Beaufort County coronavirus numbers from DHEC:
New cases reported Wednesday: 28 confirmed, 9 probable
New cases reported Tuesday: 4 confirmed, 4 probable
New cases reported Monday: 18 confirmed, 7 probable
New deaths reported from Monday to Wednesday: 0 confirmed, 0 probable
Seven-day average of new cases: 19 confirmed infections per day
Two-week incidence rate: 178 cases per 100,000 people
Vaccination rate: 55.4% of residents have been fully vaccinated
ZIP code data since Oct. 1
Bluffton ZIP code, 29910: 428 cases
Hilton Head Island ZIP code, 29926: 146 cases
Hilton Head Island ZIP code, 29928: 93 cases
Okatie ZIP code, 29909: 180 cases
Beaufort ZIP code, 29902: 287 cases
St. Helena Island ZIP code, 29920: 60 cases
Data in this story are current as of Wednesday.
This story was originally published December 23, 2021 at 11:22 AM.
