Dr. David Greene of Colleton County Fire Rescue gave a report regarding the latest Covid situation in the county at the Tuesday Jan. 5 meeting of Colleton County Council.
According to Greene, Jan. 5 is day 295 of week 44 of Covid. Last week in S.C., 22,434 people were reported to have Covid — 10,000 more cases than were reported during the summer peak.
Colleton is trending slightly higher than the state average of people contracting Covid with a 30 percent positivity rate. “This indicates a high level of public transmission throughout the county and state,” said Greene. “The mortality rate here is 3.1 percent, which is higher than the state and national mortality rates of 1.7 percent. Diabetes and cardiovascular disease appear to be the leading contributors to poor patient outcome. Patients with these diseases seem to be more at risk.”
Greene said the county was in Phase 1A of the CDC’s recommended vaccine program, where all health care workers are vaccinated first. This will continue through February.
Next, CDC suggests Phase 1B of vaccinations for first responders, teachers, support staff, law enforcement and persons aged 75 and older. CDC hopes to have this finished in early spring.
Phase 1C will be recommended for people aged 65 an older, individuals 16 and older with high-risk conditions, and all essential workers to be completed by late spring to early summer.
Last, is CDC’s suggested Phase Two for people aged 16 and older to be completed by late summer and early fall.
Some Colleton doctors will have the vaccine soon, but patients must contact their physician to see if the vaccine will be available to them.
Covid testing is available at the county health department on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. An appointment is required. Some doctors’ offices have testing available as well.
In other business:
n Incumbent council members Dr. Joe Flowers and Phillip Taylor were sworn in earlier as re-elected councilmen.
n The council unanimously agreed that meetings will continue to be conducted virtually via Zoom. The meetings can be viewed on YouTube.
n Masks will also continue to be required county-wide.
n Kimberly Mulinax of the Lowcountry Council of Governments presented information regarding new Community Development Block Grant criteria and availability for 2021.
The South Carolina Community Development Block Grant Program is designed to provide assistance to units of local government in improving economic opportunities and meeting community revitalization needs, particularly for persons of low-to-moderate income (LMI). The grant is based on percentages and designed to meet housing and revitalization needs.
The Beaufort County/Lowcountry Regional Home Consortium includes Colleton County’s areas that are in need of affordable housing, rehabilitation of substandard housing, and demolition of vacant or dilapidated houses.
As houses age, the number of substandard housing increases leading to potential homelessness. The consortium is accepting lists of priority needs from counties to combat this issue.
The CDBG is now making $214,621 funding available to the county due to Covid. For counties, no local match is required. This grant must help low-to-moderate income people, eliminate slum or blight, or meet an urgent need. More information can be found at the www.cdbgsc.com website.
Possible needs for applying for the grant might be: personal protective equipment; lease of a facility for public service such as ventilators, medical equipment, mobile health care vehicles, etc.; Covid testing and tracking; food pantries; food distribution ad delivery for elderly or LMI individuals; after school education; senior services
