DHEC

It's a familiar time of year. Summer vacations are winding down. Children are returning to school. And COVID-19 activity is on the rise.

The agency's five-year State Health Improvement Plan is set to expire in 2023. An update requires input from the public through an online survey. It's anonymous, by the way.

Infection surges come and go, but some of us have yet to see a double line on a COVID test. It's not as comforting as it seems.

H. longicornis, the Asian longhorned tick that doesn't need a mate to make hundreds of thousands of babies, has been found, contained, at an undisclosed cattle farm.

On Friday, DHEC confirmed cases of monkeypox in the Midlands and Low Country; emphasized that public health risk is low.

It’s summertime in South Carolina. You’re probably thinking of being on the beach. But before you start swimming in the sea, there’s something you should be wary of: the germs wading in the water.

A home test kit is available for residents to protect themselves against a danger they can't see, taste or smell. This test is placed in the lowest level of the home and can help protect against lung cancer.

A politically appointed board will hear an appeal from property owners who want to bury sandbags along a South Carolina beach to fight erosion. Opponents fear sandbag walls are likely to make the beach wash away faster. A three-member committee of the Department of Health and Environmental Control board voted unanimously last week to hold a hearing before the full board early next year. The board will consider overturning a staff decision denying permission to keep sandbags in place on Debordieu Island, south of Myrtle Beach. Coastal regulators say the bags were put in illegally by seven landowners after a 2020 hurricane.

South Carolina lawmakers are weighing testimony from members of the public and doctors about treatments for COVID-19. A panel of lawmakers that oversees medical issues has spent two days this month on the topic as the state continues to grapple with thousands of new cases. Some doctors on Wednesday promoted the use of drugs that haven't been proven to treat COVID-19. Department of Health and Environmental Control Director Dr. Edward Simmer said the agency warns that ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine can be dangerous but can't stop doctors from prescribing the drugs. Simmer told lawmakers the growing demand for the antibody infusions proven to lessen COVID-19 symptoms has also created a temporary supply bottleneck for the treatment.

This edition of the South Carolina Lede for September 21, 2021, features: a discussion about equity and infrastructure investment as Congress returns to take up trillions of dollars in spending; new data from Pfizer about giving young children its COVID-19 vaccine; and DHEC's Dr. Brannon Traxler on how the Palmetto State is handling the recent surge of the Delta variant.