SC DHEC
Daniel Prince
County's COVID incidence rate is lowest in the state right now
According to DHEC, Union County is the only county in the state with a medium rating when it comes to COVID-19 disease activity over the past two weeks. As of Wednesday, Union County’s COVID incidence rate per capita came in at 399 per 100,000, lowest in the state, though still meriting a high designation. The trend in incidence rate, which compares the last two weeks to the two weeks before that, showed a stable trend, neither increasing nor decreasing by more than 10%, good for a medium rating. The two-week percent positive rate is in the medium category, as well, at 7.1%. That is the third-lowest percent positive rate in the state, behind Lee and Oconee counties. The two medium ratings were enough to give the county an overall disease activity level of medium.
There have been 109 confirmed cases and 28 probable cases in Union County in the past two weeks. DHEC reports that two people in Union County have died from COVID during this latest spike in cases, both occurring the week of August 14.
The Union County School District has always done a quicker job of reporting cases among staff and students in the district than DHEC has. Superintendent Joey Haney will give the latest figures at the September school board meeting, set for Monday, September 27. At the August meeting, Haney reported on data for the 10 days leading up to the start of school. In that report, he stated there had been 11 staff cases and 48 student cases reported, with many of the student cases coming from members of the football team.
DHEC’s report only lists fewer than 5 student cases at Buffalo Elementary School. WBCU News will be reaching out to the school district to get the latest figures from the district since school started and bring those to you.