Wave of omicron cases has seemingly peaked in Beaufort Co. Here are the latest numbers
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COVID-19 in the Lowcountry
Here’s the latest on the omicron variant surge, COVID-19 guidance and more in the Lowcountry.
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The omicron surge appears to have peaked in Beaufort County.
The county’s seven-day average of newly confirmed COVID-19 cases, as of Wednesday, dropped to 263 infections per day.
The average was 378 cases per day on Jan. 18.
The Lowcountry’s epidemic curve is now beginning to mirror South Africa’s, where omicron was first reported in 2021. South Africa saw an unprecedented wave of coronavirus cases, but then its outbreak quickly slowed.
Beaufort County residents have waited several days for this good news.
The county’s case trends had started to improve late last week, but the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control on Monday announced that it was delaying its release of this past weekend’s case numbers because of a “large volume” of COVID-19 test results.
The agency on Tuesday then said it was grappling with a “data processing” issue.
That left people largely in the dark on whether omicron had actually peaked in Beaufort County.
DHEC on Wednesday finally released five days’ worth of new COVID-19 numbers after the agency mostly resolved its data problem.
“This processing delay was due to an extraordinary volume of testing data that was funneling into a single software system,” said Dr. Brannon Traxler, the state’s director of public health, during a briefing with reporters Wednesday. “The long upload times of these very large data files created a backlog.
“DHEC staff has been working nonstop, literally 24/7 to resolve this processing issue and develop a permanent fix. ... We do sincerely apologize.”
Countywide data
Here are the latest Beaufort County coronavirus numbers from DHEC:
New cases reported Wednesday: 83 confirmed, 16 probable
New cases reported Tuesday: 81 confirmed, 15 probable
New cases reported Monday: 103 confirmed, 17 probable
New cases reported Sunday: 351 confirmed, 86 probable
New cases reported Saturday: 524 confirmed, 49 probable
New deaths reported from Saturday to Wednesday: 2 confirmed, 0 probable
Seven-day average of new cases: 263 confirmed infections per day
Two-week case rate: 3,232 cases per 100,000 people
Vaccination rate: 56.8% of residents have been fully vaccinated (one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine or two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines)
ZIP code data since Jan. 1
Bluffton ZIP code, 29910: 1,857 cases
Hilton Head Island ZIP code, 29926: 700 cases
Hilton Head Island ZIP code, 29928: 393 cases
Okatie ZIP code, 29909: 595 cases
Beaufort ZIP code, 29902: 910 cases
West of Beaufort ZIP code, 29906: 1,284 cases
St. Helena Island ZIP code, 29920: 415 cases
Jasper County numbers
Jasper County recorded eight confirmed coronavirus cases Wednesday. No new COVID-19 deaths were announced.
This story was originally published January 26, 2022 at 5:23 PM.
