A look at COVID-19 in Sumter, Clarendon and Lee counties: Virus still a threat

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The tri-county has been through quite a whirlwind these past few months with coronavirus cases surging since October.

For Sumter, Clarendon and Lee counties, COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have risen since the pandemic started surging again. While Lee County has a low two-week incidence rate at 178 per 100,000 population as of Wednesday, both Sumter and Clarendon counties are classified as high incidence rates with Sumter at 269 per 100,000 and Clarendon at 207 per 100,000.

Now that Thanksgiving is less than a week away, here's how each county stood at the first half of November with cases, deaths and hospitalization rates.

Sumter County

During the summer, the state health agency observed a rise in cases and hospitalizations. The county has an 8.3% hospitalization rate as of Wednesday, second in the tri-county behind Clarendon County, and its cases have fluctuated since peaking at the end of July but are steadily rising since October. Like most counties in South Carolina, cases in Sumter rose rapidly during the summer with the highest weekly case count at nearly 400 on July 25.

Also on July 25, deaths also reached the highest reported deaths per week in the county with nine.

Clarendon County

Cases have fluctuated in the last eight months. Clarendon County has consistently had among the highest hospitalization rates in South Carolina, sitting at 13% and 164 reported hospitalizations as of Wednesday, according to the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.

Around late April, coronavirus cases in Clarendon surged for the first time before slowing down until summer arrived. Then, cases steadily kept rising, reaching their peak at the end of July. After a slow and steady few months, the seven-day moving average is beginning to increase again from a low in October.

For coronavirus-related deaths, the county's hospital was overwhelmed with patients and deaths early in the pandemic between April 25 and May 2.

Lee County

Although Lee County is a small county, it has not been exempt from the spread of the virus. The county had a hospitalization rate of 10.5% as of Wednesday and has consistently had one of the highest rates of new confirmed COVID-19 infections in the state.

Coronavirus cases rose in late May and again at the beginning of August. As for deaths, the county hasn't seen a surge of high coronavirus-related deaths, reporting six deaths between May 30 and June 6, the most for the county in a week.

All three counties may have different cases, death and hospitalization rates reported, but all of them have seen an influx of coronavirus cases this fall, and officials locally and statewide have urged extreme caution and to follow safety guidelines with winter arriving shortly and people celebrating the holidays.

As of Wednesday, Sumter has reported nearly 4,000 cases and 93 confirmed deaths, Clarendon reported nearly 1,300 cases and 67 deaths, and Lee has 793 cases and 36 deaths.