MUSC doctor concerned with rapid spread of COVID-19 in Tri-County

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - A doctor at MUSC is concerned about the rapid spread of COVID-19 in the Tri-County area, and says there’s one way out of this raging war we’re in with the virus, and that’s the vaccine.

“That sort of rapid growth tells you that there’s extremely high transmissions rates occurring out in the community,” said Dr. Michael Sweat at MUSC.

Sweat is concerned about the explosive growth of COVID in the Lowcountry which is led by Dorchester County. He says it is being driven by the highly contagious delta variant. Sweat says we’re in a “code red situation,” calling COVID in the Lowcountry severe.

“Two weeks ago we had 651 cases diagnosed in the Tri-county area. The next week we had 1,230, and this week we had about 3,000 cases,” Sweat said.

Sweat says that tells you we have an extremely high transmission rate going on right now. He estimates that this will last eight to twelve weeks.

Sweat said people who are not vaccinated should get vaccinated. In addition, he said people who are newly vaccinated need to be careful and wear masks, since it takes about six weeks from the first shot to attain full immunity.

Sweat says there is one thing that will get us out of this current COVID flare-up: the vaccine.

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