Horry County sees downward trend in COVID-19 cases. Are we in the clear?
The coronavirus has now reached a plateau on the Grand Strand since the first cases were confirmed in Horry County more than one month ago, area doctors said.
While medical professionals at Tidelands Health and Conway Medical Center believe the area has leveled, doctors said it is still important to continue practicing social distancing, washing your hands and using common sense as businesses and public places begin to reopen.
Dr. Gerald Harmon with Tidelands Health said the hospital system has been underwhelmed with the amount of patients who have tested positive for the coronavirus.
“We’ve been blessed with being underwhelmed,” Harmon said, adding the area has plateaued.
The number of COVID-19 cases announced last week by the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control decreased compared to weeks prior in Horry County. About 20 new cases in the county were confirmed last week, compared to just over 50 between April 13-19 and about 70 April 6-12.
Between Tidelands Health’s two hospital locations, there have been no more than four patients at the facilities at a time with the coronavirus, Harmon said. With no deaths confirmed in the area in the last week, Harmon said he hopes that data means we are on the “downside” of the virus.
“We haven’t had the seriousness of the disease because of what we’ve done,” he said, adding practices like social distancing and closing schools has helped prevent the spreading of the virus.
Horry County has had 12 coronavirus-related deaths and Georgetown County has seen two as of Monday evening’s update, DHEC reports. The first cases of the virus were confirmed in Horry County mid-March. Horry County has just over 200 confirmed cases of the virus as of Tuesday morning and Georgetown County has 39.
Since mid-March, testing availability and turnaround times have improved, said Dr. Paul Richardson, chief medical officer with Conway Medical Center. The hospital is now receiving test results within 24 to 36 hours after patients are tested, he said.
Coronavirus tests for Tidelands patients were originally taking up to 10 days for results to return, but now results are reading as quickly as 24 hours, Harmon said.
DHEC predicts there are more than 1,400 total possible cases of the coronavirus in Horry County, and 279 in Georgetown County, online data shows.
What’s next?
Even though the virus appears to have plateaued, Conway Medical Center is remaining vigilant.
“We still stand ready,” Richardson said. “We’ve been pretty stagnant with inpatient positives. I’m hoping this trend continues and continues on down.”
Area doctors say the reopening of public places should not be overnight, and the community should use common sense when beginning to visit more public places.
“I want people to maintain social distance,” Richardson said. “Our best line of defense is washing our hands.”
Dine-in services remain shut down for now on the Grand Strand, with all public beach accesses now open and short-term rentals expected to re-open this weekend.
Hotels and places like elevators are some of the highest-risk places, Harmon said. Outside activity is encouraged, he said, because the virus “doesn’t thrive in warm weather.”
“We may be blessed by the geography of where we are and lack of high density in population,” Harmon said.
However, Harmon said rather than “flipping an immediate light switch” reopening businesses, public places should reopen gradually.
“That’s going to be challenging,” he said. “Now we have to figure out a common-sense way to reopen businesses without opening the floodgates.”
This story was originally published April 28, 2020 at 9:03 AM.
