MUSC pauses use of recently launched COVID-19 warning system

Editor's note: After this report was first published July 9, MUSC decided to suspend its warning system and work with public health officials on a statewide alert system. Look for details in the coming days.

 

The Lowcountry’s high rate of COVID-19 infections – 325 new confirmed cases were announced today in Charleston County alone, along with 98 in Berkeley County and 63 in Dorchester County – has led to a new warning level system from the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.

 

MUSC President David Cole, M.D., helped lead a Zoom gathering of medical, educational, business and hospitality experts in launching the system. “Our community is now in code orange status, one step away from code red,” Cole said during the video news conference.

 

 

“We’re tracking toward a community code red COVID-19 status in late July or early August that would mean significant outbreaks are present and worsening, our testing and contact tracing capacity is strained or exceeded, hospitals are full or almost full and maybe unable to care for the volume of patients needed. If this happens, businesses would be forced to shut down from a lack of workforce, if not mandated. Children would be unable to safely go back to school this fall. There will be unnecessary death and illness.”

 

He’s hoping the new Charleston area COVID-19 warning level alert system will help prevent that. It will offer a central source of information that will be updated every day and shared with the public through newspapers, TV stations and online news sources. The warning levels range from safe green to alarming red. They’re based on information from the MUSC COVID-19 Epidemiology Intelligence Project and other public sources such as the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.

 

It’s the latest effort by MUSC to fight the pandemic in South Carolina. Earlier and ongoing efforts include free COVID-19 screening statewide through musc.care, antibody testing, research into the virus and MUSC Health’s Back2Business program.

 

Another leader participating in today’s news conference, Henry Taylor, made a business case for recognizing the seriousness of COVID in the Lowcountry. He’s chairman of the organization One Region, which is offering guidance on how to safely open and run businesses during the pandemic.

 

 

Taylor’s group looks at the virus’ impact from a couple of points of view. One involves economic indicators. “As of yesterday, those indicators are heading in the right direction. Whether looking at consumer spending, mobility in our community and unemployment claims. Those numbers are headed in the right direction.”

 

But the group’s other point of view involves medical data – and that’s a different story. “Those metrics are now flashing, and they’re telling us we need to do something. Those indicators are the reason we’re here this afternoon,” Taylor said. 

 

He and other speakers encouraged people not to waste what the Lowcountry has already gone through financially and socially since the start of the pandemic. If the numbers keep going up, the economic, educational and emotional pain people have endured will be compounded.

 

“There are some things we can do as individuals. We’ve asked our businesspeople to come along, and they have. There are things we can do as individuals to change the course we’re on right now when you look at our medical data. Simple things like taking personal responsibility to wear a mask, practicing social distancing, washing our hands frequently and protecting our vulnerable populations,” Taylor said.

 

Representatives from Boeing South Carolina and Volvo said the pandemic has already dealt their businesses a substantial blow and encouraged people to listen to what medical experts are saying.

 

Helen Hill, CEO of the Charleston Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, thanked hospitality and travel industry businesses that are doing everything they can to keep employees and visitors safe. “Sadly, there are some that are not. We need them to act now to be able to safely recover.”

 

Gerrita Postlewait, superintendent of the Charleston County School District, asked the public to consider how the coronavirus is affecting children and parents. “The high infection rate in our area creates more uncertainty every day as we think about how to safely restart schools this fall,” she said. “Our children need to get back to the normalcy of schooling both for academic reasons and their social and emotional well-being.”

 

Doctors at the news conference pointed to recent holiday weekends as potential drivers of the increase in infections. Cole compared the community’s efforts to put the brakes on the virus to a theoretical car headed in a dangerous direction.

 

“Right now, we’re in real danger of veering off the side of the road. This is a community issue that needs a community response. We can rise to this challenge,” Cole said. 

 

“The lockdown brought us some time, but it didn’t make COVID-19 magically go away so we can go back to our normal way of doing things. Until, as a nation, we can develop and deploy an effective vaccine or have effective therapies for COVID-19, we’re going to have to deal with this virus.

 

“Charleston has a choice to make. Will we veer off the road and become Houston, Miami or New York?” Cole asked, referring to other areas that are dealing or have dealt with COVID-19 spikes. “If we act now, we can continue to move forward.”