COLUMBIA, S.C. — One of South Carolina's top public health officials is urging people to stay home on New Year's Eve as COVID-19 cases rise in the state.
“We do not want to start 2022 — our third year of COVID-19 — with record numbers of hospitalizations and deaths,” Public Health Director Dr. Brannon Traxler said. ”But we’re unfortunately headed in that direction.”
South Carolina Public Health Director Brannon Traxler said Thursday that the numbers are likely to soar in the days and weeks following New Year's. State health officials also reported 5,911 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday.
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“The unfortunate truth is that sacrifices will be made one way or the other,” Traxler said. “They’ll either be made willingly, by finding alternative ways to celebrate as well as getting a safe and free vaccination and masking up, or we’ll be ... forced to make the ultimate sacrifice, by watching more of us suffer from those severe cases of COVID-19.”
Hospital admissions have more than doubled in the last week, including people on ventilators and in ICUs.
Traxler stress that vaccination is the best defense against the virus, including the new omicron strain.
Dr. Christine Carr, an emergency department physician at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, said her ER has closed off a pod because there is no one to staff it.
Although omicron is potentially less dangerous, the highly transmissible variant could still leave staff overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients, Carr told The Associated Press last week.
“People that get COVID will still show up at an ER, and it will crush us,” Carr said.
The health department says the rise in cases is leading to more demand for tests. It warns that people may see increased wait times at testing locations.
To find a vaccination site, or to get more information about vaccines and boosters, check out the link at scdhec.gov/covid19/covid-19-vaccine
To find a testing site, go to the link at scdhec.gov/covid19/covid-19-testing-locations. Note that some private pharmacies, health care and doctor's offices are charging or requiring insurance for certain tests.
The City of Columbia is partnering with DHEC for free COVID-19 vaccination clinics 1-5 p.m. at city-operated facilities on the following dates:
- Thursday, December 30, 2021, Hyatt Park, 950 Jackson Avenue
- Tuesday, January 4, 2022, MLK Park, 2300 Greene St.
- Thursday, January 6, 2022, Melrose Park, 1500 Fairview Dr.
- Tuesday, January 11, 2022, Woodland Park, 6500 Olde Knight Parkway