South Carolina’s public health agency plans to test nearly a quarter million people for COVID-19 over the next two months, partnering with healthcare facilities and a private lab as part of a new, coordinated assault on the pandemic.
As part of that new strategy, the state Department of Health and Environmental Control will quickly test all 40,000 residents and employees of South Carolina’s nearly 200 nursing homes, where the respiratory disease can spread quickly and prey on vulnerable residents. At least 84 nursing home residents and employees have died so far from COVID-19.
The agency also is stepping up plans to hire contact tracers. It is identifying a pool of up to 1,000 people who can be hired and trained to track down where the virus has been and where it might spread next, a crucial piece of the state’s outbreak containment strategy.
South Carolina’s public health agency plans to test some 220,000 more people for COVID-19 over the next two months, including all 40,000 residents and employees of the state’s nearly 200 nursing homes.https://t.co/pdqd9rWONC
— The Post and Courier (@postandcourier) May 6, 2020