On Oct. 8, Lexington Medical Center switched from reporting daily numbers on COVID-19 hospitalizations to releasing that data weekly.

“Since COVID-19 cases have declined in our community, Lexington Medical Center has transitioned to sharing our COVID-19 volumes on a weekly basis, rather than daily,” reads a statement the hospital system gave to the Chronicle. “We urge our community to protect themselves against the virus by getting vaccinated and wearing a mask when in close proximity to others.”

The numbers released last week do show a continued decline in COVID-19 cases at Lexington Medical. As of Oct. 15, there were 32 people hospitalized with the virus, four of which were vaccinated. On Oct. 8, there were 46 people hospitalized with COVID-19, five of which were vaccinated. 10 patients were in the ICU on Oct. 15, compared to 16 the week before.

Anthony Alberg, chair of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of South Carolina, told the Chronicle that while daily reporting of COVID-19 numbers is important for citizens to have, Lexington Medical Center’s switch to weekly reporting isn’t a point of concern.

“In general, the public deserves and needs to have access to all data being collected by governmental agencies at least,” he explained  “Under pandemic circumstances, daily reporting is very important so we can gauge the levels of disease transmission in our communities."

“That said, Lexington Medical Center as a private entity has no obligation to report. I would worry about it if Lexington County data were not available elsewhere but they are.”

Alberg pointed out the ease with which you can find daily updated COVID-19 numbers for Lexington County via The New York Times (just search “ny times covid sc” in Google, click the first result, and enter “Lexington” into the county section a little less than halfway down the page). 

The data there shows a daily total of 59 cases per day as of Oct. 20, down 46% from two weeks prior, which puts Lexington County’s decline exactly in line with the 46% drop in daily cases seen across South Carolina as a whole. Lexington County hospitalizations are also down, by 43%, in that span.