SC health officials will close COVID testing sites, stop daily case reporting in March

 With South Carolina’s latest COVID-19 surge waning, state health officials announced Friday they would begin phasing out public testing sites and cease reporting daily case counts starting next month. The Department of Health and Environmental Control said that with coronavirus cases and hospitalizations now decreasing and accurate rapid at-home tests widely available, it is no longer believed drive-through public testing sites were needed. 

Dr. Brannon Traxler, DHEC’s public health officer, said in a call with reporters Friday the phasing out of public testing sites will be most pronounced in counties like Richland, where there are private testing sites available. 

“This is a shifting in the overall strategy as at-home tests are more readily available,” she said. 

The agency continues to receive shipments of at-home tests, she said, noting it recently shipped 50,000 test kits to DHEC offices around the state in a single day. For now, people are entitled to one kit that includes two tests. 

The agency is working on being able to send kits to people who cannot get to a DHEC office. Even as testing sites are shuttered, health officials said they would continue to ensure COVID-19 vaccinations are readily available across the state. 

Starting March 1, health officials will begin gradually closing testing sites in all counties that have at least one private PCR testing provider, starting with counties that have the most private providers. Private providers include primary care providers, pharmacies, federally qualified health centers, hospitals and mobile providers. 

As public testing sites close, the state will no longer have the ability to report daily case counts and as a result will cease reporting daily case counts on March 15. The agency said it would continue to report COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths on a weekly basis because it said those metrics are the most accurate indicators of the virus’ impact in the state.

 “DHEC is confident that these changes will ensure South Carolinians continue to have the resources and information they need to make informed decisions and protect themselves and their families from COVID-19,” the agency said in a statement. 

Health officials said they would gradually close DHEC-managed vendor testing sites in counties with five or more private PCR test providers between March 1 and 14, followed by vendor-run sites in counties with two-to-four private providers between March 15 and April 1, before finally closing DHEC-run sites starting April 1, except in counties where the agency is the lone provider or one of two providers of PCR tests. In those areas, DHEC will provide mobile rapid antigen testing services, the agency said. Traxler said she hopes the public will shift from a pandemic mindset to an endemic one, knowing that like the flu, this virus will continue to circulate in the community, but likely will become less deadly. 

She said it was the nature of such viruses that variants are more contagious but less severe. That has been evident so far in the way the delta variant gave way to the more contagious, but less severe omicron variant. Traxler said the number of people hospitalized has dropped, and while deaths have not, she expects that number to begin to decrease soon. She said DHEC anticipates updating its contact tracing and school guidance next week.

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