Horry County once again becomes a COVID ‘hotspot,’ White House report says. What to know
Horry County has once again been identified as a coronavirus “hotspot,” this time by the federal government, marking a bitter comparison to last summer when the area faced an uncontrolled spread landing dozens of patients in hospitals.
Last June, Horry County was designated as a hotspot by the state Department of Health and Environmental Control following a spike in recorded cases as businesses reopened and testing became more widely available. Now, with health officials sounding the alarm due to the contagious Delta variant, Horry County has been marked as a “sustained hotspot” in a report the White House COVID-19 team released Tuesday.
That means the county has a “sustained case burden” and could see limitations on healthcare resources due to high case counts.
Horry County is also a “rapid riser” county in the last 14 days, according to the report.
The report also found, based on federal data:
- Horry County has seen 1,400 cases reported in the last week. The seven-day case rate in the county is around 395 per 100,000 people, and that represents a 110% increase from the previous seven days.
- The percent positive rate in the last seven days has been 22.24%, a 5.42% change from the week before.
- There have been 91 new COVID hospital admissions in the last week, an increase of nearly 122% compared to the previous seven days.
- More than 25% of intensive care unit beds are being used for COVID patients, up nearly 8% from the week before.
- Around 49% of the county’s residents have gotten at least one dose, with almost 43% of its population fully vaccinated. “Fully vaccinated” means a person is at least two weeks past their final dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Experts maintain the two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are most effective when both doses are administered.
Doctors in the Myrtle Beach area have shown concern over the rising case counts, specifically the increase in hospitalizations driven by a younger population that hasn’t been vaccinated. Some “breakthrough cases,” or a person who has been vaccinated and still got the virus, have landed in the hospital, though typically those cases don’t require as much medical care, doctors say.
The recent spread has caused health experts to tighten up precautions again, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reversing course and requesting vaccinated people wear masks indoors in areas where there’s a significant spread of COVID-19, including Horry County.
This story was originally published August 3, 2021 at 5:22 PM.
