COVID vaccine live updates: Here’s what to know in South Carolina on Jan. 24
We’re tracking the most up-to-date information about the coronavirus and COVID-19 vaccines in South Carolina. Check back for updates.
Cases surpass 376,000 as vaccine rollout continues
At least 376,987 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in South Carolina since March, and 5,915 have died, according to state health officials.
The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control on Sunday reported 3,450 new COVID-19 cases, up from 3,435 reported the day before.
Sixty additional deaths were reported Sunday.
As of Sunday, 25.4% of COVID-19 tests were positive. Health officials have said that number should be closer to 5% to control the spread of the virus.
At least 2,189 people were hospitalized in South Carolina with the coronavirus on Sunday.
As of Sunday, South Carolina had received 542,050 total doses of COVID-19 vaccine and administered 267,884 of those doses, according to the DHEC.
Where small business grants went
Nearly 2,300 small businesses received COVID-19 assistance grants through the state.
The state’s Department of Administration last month finalized the $40 million in grants, which were funded with federal COVID-19 relief money. The grants ranged from $2,500 to $25,000.
The state legislature created the program last fall and designed it to give preference to minority-owned businesses, small businesses and businesses that had not received previous COVID-19 assistance.
The program seems to have done that, The State reported Sunday.
A little more than a third of the applicants were minority-owned businesses, and nearly half of the businesses that received assistance were minority-owned. Businesses that had not received previous COVID relief assistance made up 37% of grant recipients. Additionally, almost all of the money went to businesses with fewer than 15 employees, according to data from the Department of Administration.
The grants, however, weren’t enough to meet the needs of all businesses that applied for support. More than 9,600 small and minority-owned businesses applied for $213 million worth of federal funding
Gov. Henry McMaster wants to continue the COVID-19 relief grants for small businesses in next year’s state spending plan. He’s proposed setting aside $123 million for relief grants to be awarded by the Department of Commerce, The State reports.
DHEC board to determine vaccine allocation
The S.C. DHEC’s politically-appointed governing board, instead of the department’s health experts, will determine how limited COVID-19 vaccine supplies should be allocated to counties.
Marshall Taylor, DHEC acting director, said last week that agency leaders were not comfortable deciding how to allocate doses across the state and asked the board to step in.
“Our board, they represent each of the congressional districts, and so they are out in those communities, and they have both rural communities in their districts and they have urban communities or counties in their districts,” Taylor testified Thursday, according to The State. “And so our leadership team came together and said this is not a decision DHEC (agency officials) should make.”
The board is expected to make a decision Tuesday. Options include allocating vaccine doses to counties on a per capita basis or based on certain county health factors, Taylor said.
The agency’s goal is to set a baseline rate for each county by the week of Feb. 1.
Prisma no longer taking vaccination walk-ins
Prisma Health, South Carolina’s largest hospital system, will no longer take first coronavirus vaccine dose walk-ins at any of its Midlands locations starting Monday.
The hospital system said Saturday it’s now “extremely low” on doses and will cut back on vaccinations. It can only vaccinate people who schedule appointments and those who are due for their second dose.
Right now, only health care workers, emergency medical responders, people at least 70 years old or people at least 65 years old who are hospitalized are eligible to get vaccinated.
Prisma Health received only 25% of the vaccine supplies it requested from the state for the past week, it said. It has requested 60,000 doses of the vaccine for this week.
“This is a national vaccine supply problem that is affecting the entire country,” Dr. Saria Saccocio, Prisma Health’s chief medical officer for Ambulatory Services and co-chairperson of the Prisma Health Vaccine Task Force, told The State.
This story was originally published January 24, 2021 at 10:33 AM.
