MUSC Health weekly COVID-19 report (August 9)

CHARLESTON, S.C. (Aug. 9, 2021) – At MUSC Health, the safety of patients, families, care team members, students, faculty and staff remains the number one priority. The MUSC Public Affairs and Media Relations (PAMR) department issues regular COVID-19 updates on Monday of each week. If a federal or state holiday falls on a Monday, then a report will be issued the following day. Please read the report in its entirety; information can change quickly.

The Path Forward / Recovery

COVID-19 VACCINATION UPDATE

Pregnancy Protection

One group that is especially lagging in COVID-19 vaccination also happens to be at higher risk of severe illness – pregnant women.

Q&A 14

Dr. Danielle Scheurer fields some of the most pressing questions on the COVID vaccine front.

MUSC Health has vaccine appointments for all eligible individuals age 12 and up. Eligible individuals can visit muschealth.org/get-vaccine to make an appointment; while appointments are encouraged, walk-ins are welcome at all MUSC COVID-19 vaccine clinic locations. View information and a video with directions on how to schedule a vaccination appointment. The community is encouraged to monitor muschealth.org for COVID-19 vaccine availability criteria, updates and FAQs.

For more information related to public, community vaccination sites operated by MUSC Health throughout the state, please visit https://vaxlocator.dhec.sc.gov/. Appointments are encouraged, but walk-ins are welcome.

Homebound individuals who need in-home COVID-19 vaccination services should contact DHEC’s COVID-19 vaccine information line by calling 1-866-365-8110. Please note that community members should not directly contact the vendors. All calls must be routed through the DHEC COVID-19 vaccine information line to access this program.

MUSC Health vaccination administration data is available upon request.

MUSC Health COVID-19 Vaccination Expectation for all care team members

All MUSC Health leaders and care team members are now required to have the COVID-19 vaccine. Religious and medical exemptions may apply for some care team members. All new care team members should receive a single dose vaccine prior to starting work or the first dose of a two-dose vaccine prior to starting work. The second dose must be completed within three weeks as a condition of employment. As of July 1, more than 99.9% of MUSC Health care team members have complied with this policy. MUSC Health has established this policy for the safety of our care team, our patients and patients’ families and visitors.

FOR UPDATED DATA:

Code Red

The impact of COVID-19 in the Charleston area returns to “severe” as scientist warns of “code red” situation.

Cases Double

Leader of MUSC’s COVID tracking team concerned about virus’ trajectory. “It’s just going bonkers in the unvaccinated.”

The MUSC COVID-19 Epidemiology Intelligence Project is a digital dashboard that provides leading indicators related to the COVID-19 epidemic to enable informed decisions. Current situation assessments for MUSC Health – Charleston (Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester counties), MUSC Health Florence, and MUSC Health Lancaster divisions are available on this site.

HELPFUL WEB LINKS FOR THE GENERAL PUBLIC:

General information

Information about testing options

MUSC Virtual Urgent Care

COVID-19 vaccination

MUSC COVID-19 mobile diagnostic testing

MUSC Health offers COVID-19 testing at all hospital and clinic locations. Patients are encouraged to communicate with their providers through MUSC MyChart should they need testing services.

MUSC Health, in partnership with the state legislature, is rotating mobile screening and collection sites in rural and underserved areas throughout the state, for both walk-up and drive-through patients, which are advertised locally in partnership with municipalities, community organizations and businesses. Prescreening is not required and there is no cost to patients. Patients will be contacted within two days with the results of their test, if not sooner. Patients are asked to bring photo identification and an insurance card if they have one. The CARES Act requires MUSC to bill insurance providers if patients do have insurance. Patients may email drivethruresults@musc.edu if they have questions regarding their results. If they do not have an email address, they may call 843-985-8888.

Sites may close early or operate with reduced hours if weather conditions become unsafe for care team members or if volume exceeds site safety capacity.

NORTH CHARLESTON: The Charleston International Airport and MUSC Health have collaborated to offer a mobile COVID-19 diagnostic testing site. The site will open on Wednesday, Aug. 11, Friday, Aug. 13, Wednesday, Aug. 18 and Friday, Aug. 20 from 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the Economy B parking lot, 5500 International Blvd., North Charleston, S.C. 29418. “Rapid’ nasopharyngeal swab testing is available at this site, with results available via email within 30 minutes of the test.

Information related to Healthy Me — Healthy SC free, statewide mobile testing sites for each week can be found here.

MUSC Health antibody testing

MUSC Health is offering voluntary COVID-19 serologic testing through MUSC MyChart and results will be available within 48-72 hours. Testing is available at select locations in the Charleston, Florence, and Lancaster divisions and by appointment only. Repeat testing, for those who test negative, will be offered no more than every 30 days for qualified candidates. The cost of the test will be billed to insurance carriers. Based on the recent CARES Act, insured patients will not have an outstanding balance for this test. It is important to make sure individuals and the media understand what the test results mean.

COVID-19 related stories for follow-up

Resiliency Program

MUSC Health employees dealing with work-related stress have an in-house place to turn for help, whether they need it as individuals or as a team.

A COVID-19 Biomarker

Measuring circulating blood levels of a specific lipid, allows clinicians to predict whether COVID-19-positive patients will develop symptoms.

Delta Dominates

The delta variant, which spreads faster than the common cold, is dominant in MUSC testing as hospitalizations go up.

Regain Control

As COVID cases rise, infectious disease specialist says we need to try to get situation under control – or face potential of even worse variants.

COVID Concerns

What schools and families can do to prepare as kids get ready to head back to class amid delta-driven surge in COVID cases.

Endemic COVID

As COVID cases rise in Tri-county, scientist says we’re shifting from “pandemic” to “endemic” situation.

Basic stats / COVID-19 positive cases

Previously reported data points, such as the total number of COVID-19 community screening tests completed by MUSC Health- Charleston and the number of positive cases determined via those tests, the number of telehealth screenings, total number of specimens collected at various mobile sites, or the number of COVID-19 positive MUSC care team members are available upon request. Information related to vaccinations is at the top of this release.

Number of COVID-19 inpatients currently in the hospital (MUSC Health-Charleston): 42
- MUSC Health monitors this number to determine that we have current and future capacity in terms of health care providers, supplies, ventilators and PPE. Reported numbers are consistent with the modeling and expectation that MUSC Health will have appropriate resources to manage these patients.
- Of the 42 patients currently in the MUSC Health-Charleston location, 14 are in MUSC Health COVID-19 intensive care, with 11 of the 42 total inpatients currently receiving ventilator care for disease progression.
- Unvaccinated vs. vaccinated inpatient status update: More than 80% of current inpatients were unvaccinated upon infection/admission.

For specific information about MUSC Health Florence or Marion Medical Centers, please contact Kim Geiger at geigerki@musc.edu.

For information about MUSC Health Chester or Lancaster Medical Centers, please contact Ashley Shannon at shannona@musc.edu.

For information about MUSC Health Columbia Medical Centers (Downtown or Northeast) and MUSC Health Fairfield Emergency and Imaging, please contact Tina Creighton at creightt@musc.edu.

For information about MUSC Health Kershaw Medical Center, please contact Karlin Ferguson at fergukar@musc.edu.

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About MUSC

Founded in 1824 in Charleston, MUSC is home to the oldest medical school in the South as well as the state’s only integrated academic health sciences center, with a unique charge to serve the state through education, research and patient care. Each year, MUSC educates and trains more than 3,000 students and nearly 800 residents in six colleges: Dental Medicine, Graduate Studies, Health Professions, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy. MUSC brought in more than $271 million in biomedical research funds in fiscal year 2020, continuing to lead the state in obtaining National Institutes of Health funding, with more than $129.9 million. For information on academic programs, visit musc.edu.

As the clinical health system of the Medical University of South Carolina, MUSC Health is dedicated to delivering the highest quality patient care available while training generations of competent, compassionate health care providers to serve the people of South Carolina and beyond. Comprising some 2,000 beds, more than 100 outreach sites, the MUSC College of Medicine, the physicians’ practice plan and nearly 275 telehealth locations, MUSC Health owns and operates eleven hospitals situated in Charleston, Chester, Fairfield, Florence, Kershaw, Lancaster, Marion and Richland counties. In 2021, for the seventhconsecutive year, U.S. News & World Report named MUSC Health the No. 1 hospital in South Carolina. To learn more about clinical patient services, visit muschealth.org.

MUSC and its affiliates have collective annual budgets of $3.2 billion. The more than 20,000 MUSC team members include world-class faculty, physicians, specialty providers and scientists who deliver groundbreaking education, research, technology and patient care.