AS Covid infections rise across South Carolina with numbers not seen since winter, SC DHEC and Prisma Health heald separate news conferences to address the Covid situation in the state.

Prisma Update Takeaways

• The Delta variant is now the dominant strain of Covid in South Carolina
• One dose of Covid vaccine is not enough to fight the Delta variant
• Mask are recommended for vaccinated and non-vaccinated people in indoor situations
• Almost all hospitalizations and deaths involve non-vaccinated individuals
• Mask are being used not protect ourselves but rather to protect others
• The Covid vaccines are very safe and effective
• America has too many non-vaccinated people leading to more cases and possible mutations in the virus
• Children are susceptible to the the Delta variant. Mask in schools are needed to protect them. Prisma physician on the call indicated that failure to do this would be “an unmitigated disaster”

DHEC Update Takeaways

• 41 of 46 South Carolina Counties are Seeing High Rates of Covid Transmission
• K-12 School students and personnel should wear mask
• Increasing SC vaccination rates are the key to fighting the virus
• Tuesday’s 1099 new cases were the highest reported daily case number since February 14th
• Cases rose over 92% last week
• No vaccine is perfect but the Covid vaccinations are working in preventing sever cases and hospitalizations