Twenty-three long months after the first cases of COVID-19 were detected in South Carolina, there’s reason to hope the current surge of the pandemic may be shorter-lived than previous waves.
While omicron continues to ravage the state, an epidemiologist with the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control acknowledged this week South Carolina may soon be turning a corner.
“We have begun seeing some incremental decreases in the counts and rates of cases during the surge,” said Brannon Traxler, with DHEC. “While numbers of cases have still been increasing, they’ve been increasing at a lesser rate over the last couple of weeks or so. This is certainly promising.”
Even so, she said, “it may be too early to say that we’ve peaked or are nearing the end of the surge.”
According to Google Trends, the use of search terms such as "endemic" and "end of pandemic" have risen sharply this past month.
Everyone is clearly ready for this thing to be over. Experts say that doesn't mean it is.https://t.co/4wWeBhqtbd
— The Post and Courier (@postandcourier) January 29, 2022