COVID-19 map puts Charleston County in dangerous territory

Charleston, South Carolina – Charleston County is in the red zone when it comes to dangerous levels of COVID-19. That’s according to a new interactive map just launched today by a coalition of scientists out of Harvard.

Researchers hope this new tracker will cut through the noise and conflicting advice when it comes to flattening the curve.

That’s imperative in counties like Charleston where the daily number of COVID cases has been leading the state.

Each county is represented on the map by a color: Green, yellow, orange, or red.

The tool allows people to check the state or the county where they live.

You can check your COVID risk rating.

Risk levels are based upon the number of new cases per 100 thousand.

25+ is red. Charleston is at 53.6. That’s considered the tipping point for the pandemic.

Dr. Tom Tsai is with the Harvard Global Health Institute.

He explained, “For counties in the red zone, it’s not just enough to test, we actually have to think about increasing our interventions to flatten the curve of the pandemic.”

Dr. Tsai said that means buying time for hospitals to increase capacity, insisting on universal masking, avoiding large gatherings and even a possible return to shutdown.

That’s not a done deal. Dr. Tsai stated that there is a window of opportunity in the Palmetto State, but it’s closing.

He said we need to take action now to help prevent the same scenes that played out in New York this spring happen in South Carolina.