The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) recently unveiled a new online dashboard that provides detailed county-level data that helps provide a localized look at the impacts of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 in South Carolina.
This new dashboard was developed by DHEC’s data analysts, GIS specialists and epidemiologists using information gathered through the agency’s expansive disease surveillance capabilities.
“In what could traditionally take a year or more to develop, our public health and data specialists have built in months an in-depth and interactive online resource for public use that gives a breakdown of demographics, testing, hospitalizations and more for all 46 counties,” said Dr. Joan Duwve, DHEC Public Health Director. “DHEC has been tracking county-specific data since the first cases of COVID-19 were detected in the state, but the agency’s efforts to consolidate this vast, evolving information into an online resource that will be updated daily is truly amazing, and our state is fortunate to have such an adept team of experts working behind the scenes.”
The dashboard is available by clicking the green “S.C. County-Level COVID-19 Data” button on the main COVID-19 landing page. It will be accessible there for 10 days, after which time it will replace the “Demographics” webpage, as statewide and county-level demographics are both built into this new dashboard. Additional new localized data sets included within it are:
race, ethnicity, gender and age for cases and deaths in each county
percent positive for each county
number of cases per day for each county, dating back to the beginning of March
number of tests performed for each county (based on an individual’s county of residence)
number of types of tests (serology or molecular) performed for each county (based on an individual’s county of residence)
rate of testing per 100,000 residents for each county
“It’s important to remember that as this localized data changes from day to day, this deadly virus knows no bounds and it doesn’t recognize county or jurisdictional lines,” Duwve said. “Regardless of the number of cases and reported prevalence of the virus within a specific county, we must assume the virus is everywhere and take the same precautions every day in public settings, including wearing a mask, staying socially distanced from others by six feet, avoiding group gatherings and washing our hands frequently.”
The S.C. County-Level COVID-19 Data dashboard includes a users’ guide for helping viewers navigate through the dashboard and understand the data as presented. It will be updated daily and represents information current as of the previous day.
