“It’s scary”: Kershaw County residents respond to rise in COVID-19 cases

DHEC says five of seven presumptive positive cases have originated in the county

KERSHAW COUNTY, S.C. (WOLO) — One confirmed case and five presumptive positive cases of coronavirus have been identified in people who live in Camden, according to South Carolina’s Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC).

As a response, several people are taking extra precautions to keep themselves safe.

“There’s a lot of people who are acting like they’re not concerned about it, but then there are others like me who are really concerned about it, I mean I’m carrying around hospital disinfectant everywhere I go,” said De’Vanta Lowery of Bethune.

Several people in the county have bought latex gloves, and others have bought portable bottles of hand sanitizer to bring with them on the go.

“I actually bought (hand sanitizer) to clip onto my keychain. It’s kind of scary because everyone knows everybody. We’re all like family around here, and it could spread very easily,” said Anthony Johnson of Camden.

KershawHealth says they’ve had two patients in their care who DHEC says are presumptive positive cases for coronavirus.

Also, two Kershaw County students, who are not among the current presumed positive cases, were present in the hospital’s emergency room when one of the patients was first brought in. 

“They did not have direct contact with the patient. There’s a very low chance they would even transmit the disease for several days, but we are following Kershaw Health’s protocol and that is that those students are being self-isolated now for two weeks,” said Mary Anne Byrd, the Community Relations Executive Director for the Kershaw County School District.

In response to the virus, the Kershaw County School District is having their staff do a deeper clean of hallways and classrooms in order to keep their students safe.

“We are doing more of the cleaning down, in particular paying attention to the extra areas that might have touch points like doorknobs. We are taking this seriously. We’re on top of it, we’re being proactive, we want them to know we care about their children, we care about their kids, and we will do all we need to do to make sure they’re safe,” Byrd said.

Kershaw County Sheriff Lee Boan says he is giving deputies protective masks in case they do come across someone with COVID-19, and also encourages them to wash their hands and stay home from work if they are feeling sick.