Is South Carolina doing better than other states with the coronavirus? We look at the numbers
South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster said at a press conference on Wednesday that South Carolina was doing better than other states.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WBTV) -”I don’t think any state in the country has done better than how we’ve done here.”
It is the statement Governor McMaster said at a press conference on Wednesday, but is that true? WBTV wanted to check the accuracy of that statement so we crunched the numbers to see what the data says.
People working in the state’s counties don’t agree. Lancaster County Administrator Steve Willis says the upward trends kept the county from Phase 3 reopening.
”Our local cases seem to have plateaued - they’re not really dropping but the state cases are trending up. Unless something changes it’s doubtful we’ll go to Phase 3 on June 8," says Willis.
The data shows us it seems to be a bit of a stretch to phrase it the way Gov. McMaster said it. Compared to three other states, South Carolina is doing average, sometimes even falling behind in certain categories.
Winthop Mathematics Professor Dr. Thomas Polaski and I decided to dive into the numbers comparing South Carolina to Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee - starting with deaths.
If you take the numbers per 100,000 people in each state, nine of those people who die from the coronavirus in South Carolina. That is compared to five in Tennessee and eight in North Carolina. Georgia is the highest at 18.
”It’s more likely you die of the coronavirus in South Carolina. You might not test positive for it as much in South Carolina but you will die more from it," says Polaski.
As Polaski says, people are less likely to test positive. Per 100,000 people those that have tested for the coronavirus, about 6 percent of South Carolinans test positive. That is compared to 6.8 percent in North Carolina and 10 percent in Georgia. Tennessee has the lowest at five percent.
”You see again there you see if you want to call that better less positive cases in South Carolina than North Carolina, Georgia," says Polaski.
Polaski says if South Carolina started testing at the same rate as Tennessee or Georgia the percent of people testing positive would not change much. However, he says doing those tests are vital to know how much of the population has the coronavirus.
As far as doing better, the professor says he just doesn’t see it.
”I don’t think it’s wise to say that South Carolina is doing better," says Polaski.
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