COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control gave an update on Wednesday about the Delta variant in South Carolina.
On Wednesday, SCDHEC reported there were a total of 714 total coronavirus cases in the state. That's the highest total since the end of April.
Dr. Brannon Traxler, the Director of Public Health for SC DHEC, talked about the department's concern about misinformation. This includes posts on Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and more.
"We've lost too many people and we've been fighting this pandemic for way too long to allow public health to be impacted by false sources of information," said Dr. Traxler.
People are being asked to rely on sources like their department and the CDC to get the right information.
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Recently, there's been concern about the Delta variant in the Palmetto State.
"We had 54 confirmed cases of the Delta variant in South Carolina that have been identified through sequencing," explained Dr. Traxler.
DHEC updates their variant dashboard every Friday. Dr. Traxler says experts are looking into what makes the Delta variant spread.
"There is some emerging data that suggests that potentially part of the reason is because when someone gets infected, it can multiply and make what we call a higher viral load, meaning more copies of the virus, more actually viruses that are in your respiratory tracks, so that obviously every time you breath or sneeze or cough, more of them can come out if you have more of them in there," said Dr. Traxler.
With the new school year right around the corner, the department plans to release their guidance for schools on how they should continue to handle the pandemic next week.