Spike in COVID cases in South Carolina
COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO) – Today, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control reported a spike in COVID cases after the long holiday. This comes as at home covid testing kits are becoming difficult to find at stores and longer wait times at testing sites.
In Columbia, the CVS on Two Notch Road currently has no take home covid test. A sales associate at the location says it’s hard to keep the tests in stock due to the high demand.
The demand for testing ahead of the christmas holiday was great. With New Years being only a few days away, for those who would like fast results at home testing can be ideal; that’s if you can get your hands on one.
Doctor Helmut Albrecht with Prisma Health says don’t forget the many drive-thru testing sites available. “There’s still enough testing sites out there and the test takes the same amount of time every day, it just depends on how quickly you get a result. — If you don’t have the time to wait in line and get the test, you may want to cancel your event or not attend an event that you don’t know whether it’s safe to attend.”
The White House recently announced its plan to send out 500 million free test kits starting next month. With the uptick in testing doctor albrecht warns the public not to use emergency departments as a community covid testing site.
And another limited supply is antibodies. Doctor Albrecht says South Carolina’s allocation of antibodies is administered by DHEC.
“We will not give everyone an antibody because we don’t have enough,” said Doctor Albrecht.
According to Doctor Albrecht, currently there are more than 200 covid inpatients at Prisma Health System hospitals. He says with the increase in cases the hospital has a system for administering antibodies. “We will determine the risk you have of progression and the severity of disease that you have. And there is an algorithm that will determine who will get it first and who will get it later.”
Doctor Albrecht predicts the surge in cases will continue and says he expects the numbers to double in the weeks ahead.
