COVID-19 update: Continuous rise in cases expected until May
Editor’s Note: All figures and facts are from March 29 and were reviewed at 10 p.m. that evening.
As of Sunday, March 29, there were 142,106 confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S. according to Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Johns Hopkins also reported that the number of recovered patients in the country has exceeded the number of recorded deaths related to the virus. In the U.S. alone, there have been 2,479 deaths and 2,686 patients have successfully recovered.
According to their respective state health departments, South Carolina accounts for 774 of U.S. cases, and Georgia has 2,612.
An executive order came Saturday, March 28, from Gov. Henry McMaster which will require 911 dispatchers to ask callers if they or others near them have tested positive or exhibit symptoms of COVID-19. This order was established in order to protect law enforcement and other emergency responders from being infected if at all possible.
The executive order also activates anti-price gouging laws and the South Carolina National Guard, along with limiting visits to nursing homes, jails and prisons, which will protect at-risk and closely confined populations.
Emergency powers were also established for the Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) which allows the department control over necessary pharmaceutical agents and medical supplies in the state “with the right to take immediate possession,” according to the South Carolina legislature’s 2002 Emergency Health Powers Act.
If there is a shortage of these supplies, “DHEC may control, restrict, and regulate by rationing and using quotas, prohibitions on shipments, price fixing, allocation, or other means … to protect the health, safety and welfare” of South Carolina residents.
In this case, the department is also required to put priority on assisting “healthcare providers, disaster response personnel, and mortuary staff.”
Despite the decision by Columbia and Greenville city governments to issue a stay-at-home ordinance, McMaster has not imposed it upon the entire state. He noted that he is opposed to doing so, while the state attorney general warned Columbia and Greenville city officials that it may not be within their purview.
According to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), data from the World Health Organization (WHO) predicts continually rising cases until early May, when it should peak and begin to reduce.
IHME predicts around 2,600 cases in South Carolina by April 2 and approximately 8,000 by May 2.
