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MUSC COVID-19 Epidemiology Intelligence Project

MUSC global health epidemiologists and scientists present graphs to model the effects of COVID-19 in the regions MUSC serves. 

COVID-19 Status Summary by Location

Choose a region in South Carolina to view the status summary. Updated April 24th 2026. 

Charleston Area Information

 

Chart describes what to do if an alert is low, medium, or high for COVID-19.

A MUSC Health Tri-County (Charleston) dashboard shows a 7% weekly increase in ED visits for respiratory viruses, inpatient COVID-19 cases up 13% with influenza down 100% and RSV unchanged, and overall SARS-CoV-2 wastewater activity at a very low level.

Time series showing SARS-CoV-2 wastewater viral activity levels across South Carolina. Repeated seasonal peaks are observed, with the most recent levels declining to low baseline levels in 2026.

A line chart comparing the percentage of Emergency Department visits with diagnosed COVID-19 across the Charleston, Midlands, PeeDee, and Catawba regions from January 2025 to April 2026, highlighting a major spike in late summer 2025.

A line chart showing the percentage of Emergency Room visits for COVID-19, Flu, and RSV across South Carolina from 2023 to early 2026, illustrating clear, recurring winter spikes dominated by the flu.

 

A line chart tracking the number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19, Influenza, or RSV at MUSC Health in the Charleston Area from early 2024 to April 2026, showing overlapping waves of the three respiratory viruses peaking in the winter.

A line chart showing the percentage of MUSC Charleston Children's ER visits for COVID-19, Influenza, and RSV, illustrating prominent winter peaks driven largely by Influenza and RSV.

Line chart showing the percentage of emergency department visits with diagnosed COVID-19 at MUSC Charleston Children’s Hospital over time, including a brief late-summer spike.

A graph shows the number of COVID-19 cases (per 100K) in the Charleston area between 2020 - 2023. The largest spike was January 2022.

Information details the prevalence of Long-COVID in SC among adults 18-years and older. 31% reported having COVID. 8% of all SC adults currently report experiencing post-COVID symptoms. 1.1% of all SC adults report currently experiencing long-term symptoms that reduce their ability to carry out day-to-day activities.

Florence Area Information

Respiratory Illness Data Tracker in text, representing COVID, Flu, and RSV

A graph shows Florence Area is relatively low for respiratory illnesses at the current time.

A graph showing the recommendations for public health for COVID-19, with threats are LOW, MEDIUM, and HIGH. When low, get tested and stay up-to-date. When medium, get tested, stay up-to-date, and talk to your healthcare provider if you are high risk. When threat of COVID is high, get tested, stay up-to-date, wear a mask indoors, and consider talking to your healthcare provider if you are high risk.

A data dashboard for the Florence area displaying an 86% decrease in respiratory ER visits, zero average weekly COVID-19 deaths, a 7.42% vaccination rate, and mixed hospital metrics showing a 50% increase in COVID-19 inpatients but drops in Flu and RSV.

Time series showing SARS-CoV-2 wastewater viral activity levels across South Carolina. Repeated seasonal peaks are observed, with the most recent levels declining to low baseline levels in 2026.

A line chart comparing the percentage of Emergency Department visits with diagnosed COVID-19 across the Charleston, Midlands, PeeDee, and Catawba regions from January 2025 to April 2026, highlighting a major spike in late summer 2025.

A line chart displaying the percentage of MUSC PeeDee ER visits for COVID-19, Influenza, and RSV, featuring significant surges during the winter season primarily caused by Influenza.

A line chart showing the percentage of Emergency Room visits for COVID-19, Flu, and RSV across South Carolina from 2023 to early 2026, illustrating clear, recurring winter spikes dominated by the flu.

A line chart showing the number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19, Influenza, or RSV at MUSC Health in the Florence Area from early 2024 to early 2026, featuring a massive surge in combined hospitalizations around January 2025.

• A graph shows the number of COVID-19 cases (per 100K) in the Florence area between 2020 - 2023. The largest spike was February 2022.

Information details the prevalence of Long-COVID in SC among adults 18-years and older. 31% reported having COVID. 8% of all SC adults currently report experiencing post-COVID symptoms. 1.1% of all SC adults report currently experiencing long-term symptoms that reduce their ability to carry out day-to-day activities.

Lancaster Area Information

Respiratory Illness Data Tracker in text, representing COVID, Flu, and RSV

Cases of respiratory illnesses in the Lancaster area are low.

A graph showing the recommendations for public health for COVID-19, with threats are LOW, MEDIUM, and HIGH. When low, get tested and stay up-to-date. When medium, get tested, stay up-to-date, and talk to your healthcare provider if you are high risk. When threat of COVID is high, get tested, stay up-to-date, wear a mask indoors, and consider talking to your healthcare provider if you are high risk.

A data dashboard for the Lancaster area showing a 0% change in overall respiratory ER visits and COVID-19/Flu hospitalizations, zero average weekly COVID-19 deaths, a 7.42% vaccination rate, and a 100% decrease in RSV inpatients.

Time series showing SARS-CoV-2 wastewater viral activity levels across South Carolina. Repeated seasonal peaks are observed, with the most recent levels declining to low baseline levels in 2026.

A line chart comparing the percentage of Emergency Department visits with diagnosed COVID-19 across the Charleston, Midlands, PeeDee, and Catawba regions from January 2025 to April 2026, highlighting a major spike in late summer 2025.

A line chart displaying the percentage of MUSC Catawba ER visits in Lancaster and Chester for COVID-19, Influenza, and RSV from November to April, showing distinct spikes in combined respiratory illnesses during the winter months.

A line chart showing the percentage of Emergency Room visits for COVID-19, Flu, and RSV across South Carolina from 2023 to early 2026, illustrating clear, recurring winter spikes dominated by the flu.

A line chart tracking the number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19, Influenza, or RSV at MUSC Health in the Lancaster Area from 2024 to early 2026, illustrating seasonal peaks in respiratory hospitalizations during the winter.

A graph shows the number of COVID-19 cases (per 100K) in the Lancaster area between 2020 - 2023. The largest spike was January 2022.

Information details the prevalence of Long-COVID in SC among adults 18-years and older. 31% reported having COVID. 8% of all SC adults currently report experiencing post-COVID symptoms. 1.1% of all SC adults report currently experiencing long-term symptoms that reduce their ability to carry out day-to-day activities.

Midlands Area Information

Respiratory Illness Data Tracker in text, representing COVID, Flu, and RSV.

Cases of respiratory illnesses are currently low in the Midlands area.

A graph showing the recommendations for public health for COVID-19, with threats are LOW, MEDIUM, and HIGH. When low, get tested and stay up-to-date. When medium, get tested, stay up-to-date, and talk to your healthcare provider if you are high risk. When threat of COVID is high, get tested, stay up-to-date, wear a mask indoors, and consider talking to your healthcare provider if you are high risk.

A MUSC Health – Midlands Area dashboard shows ED visits down 77%, inpatient trends with COVID-19 up 100%, influenza unchanged, and RSV up 50%, and wastewater SARS-CoV-2 activity high in Kershaw but very low in Richland.

Time series showing SARS-CoV-2 wastewater viral activity levels across South Carolina. Repeated seasonal peaks are observed, with the most recent levels declining to low baseline levels in 2026.

A line chart comparing the percentage of Emergency Department visits with diagnosed COVID-19 across the Charleston, Midlands, PeeDee, and Catawba regions from January 2025 to April 2026, highlighting a major spike in late summer 2025.

A line chart displaying the percentage of MUSC Midlands ER visits for COVID-19, Influenza, and RSV from November to April, showing distinct winter peaks primarily driven by Influenza.

A line chart showing the percentage of Emergency Room visits for COVID-19, Flu, and RSV across South Carolina from 2023 to early 2026, illustrating clear, recurring winter spikes dominated by the flu.

A line chart tracking the number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19, Influenza, or RSV at MUSC Health in the Midlands Area from early 2024 to early 2026, highlighting major seasonal surges in the winter months.

A graph shows the number of COVID-19 cases (per 100K) in the midlands area between 2020 - 2023. The largest spike was January 2022.

Information details the prevalence of Long-COVID in SC among adults 18-years and older. 31% reported having COVID. 8% of all SC adults currently report experiencing post-COVID symptoms. 1.1% of all SC adults report currently experiencing long-term symptoms that reduce their ability to carry out day-to-day activities.

About the Project

MUSC's COVID-19 Epidemiology Intelligence Project analysis has been developed to:

  1. Provide analysis of trends in the COVID-19 epidemic to assist with understanding the current and projected status of transmission, impacts to the community and hospital system, and the success of mitigation efforts. Our goal is also to provide information that can help assess each stage of the pandemic and provide vital health information to our community.
  2. Help us better understand and predict the critical needs of our hospitals, health care teams, in the Charleston, Berkeley, Dorchester, Florence, Marion, Darlington, Williamsburg, Chester, Lancaster, Kershaw, Richland, and Fairfield communities so that we can plan for and mitigate the impact of COVID-19 to the best of our ability.
  3. Provide reliable data to help guide and support decision making by policymakers, business leaders, and members of the general public across the aforementioned regions.

Data used in trend analysis comes from SCDHEC, MUSC clinical data, and The Center for Disease Control. Data used in the models comes from the Census Bureau, literature reviews, The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and internal clinical data.

How Often Are the Graphs Updated?

The goal of the project is to update analysis once per week.

Project Team

  • Michael D. Sweat, Ph.D., professor, MUSC Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences; director, Division of Global and Community Health; and faculty director, MUSC Center for Global Health – Project Director
  • Veronique Whittaker, MPH, Lead research analyst, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Division of Global and Community Health
  • Eric Meissner, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases
  • Kathleen Ellis, executive director, MUSC Center for Global Health

With special thanks to:

  • Claire Bailey, MPH, RD, former program coordinator, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Division of Global and Community Health
  • Virginia “Ginny” Fonner, Ph.D., MPH, former assistant professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Division of Global and Community Health

And our medical student volunteers from early 2020:

  • William “Alex” Parler, MUSC College of Medicine student
  • Gregory "Brian" Elmore, MUSC College of Medicine student

Methods & Metrics

  • Weekly Percent Change of MUSC Emergency Department Visits with a COVID-19, Flu, or RSV Diagnosis -This is the change in the weekly percentage of people in Emergency Departments due to Influenza-like-illness across MUSC's regional hospitals. These percentages are drawn directly from internal MUSC data.  
  • Average Weekly Deaths due to COVID-19 -This is the average number of weekly deaths due to COVID-19 per 100k people in South Carolina. These data are drawn from: https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_weeklydeaths_totaldeathratecrude_45
  • Percentage of Emergency Room Visits for COVID-19, Flu, and RSV in South Carolina -These data are presented by the CDC and are updated weekly. Data available at: https://data.cdc.gov/Public-Health-Surveillance/2023-Respiratory-Virus-Response-NSSP-Emergency-Dep/vutn-jzwm
  • MUSC Inpatient COVID-19, Influenza, RSV Patients -These data come directly from MUSC and are reported daily counts. We update these data weekly. If the cases are below 5, we will report this as an N/A.
  • South Carolina COVID-19 Wastewater Viral Activity Levels -These are current wastewater viral activity levels of SARS-COV-2 across wastewater treatment plants or sampling locations in the state of South Carolina. These levels are drawn from CDC and are updated weekly. Data available at: https://www.cdc.gov/nwss/rv/COVID19-statetrend.html?stateval=South%20Carolina
  • Household Pulse Survey -These data are drawn from The U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey, as part of an ongoing partnership between the Census Bureau and The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) and includes questions to assess the prevalence of post-COVID-19 conditions (long COVID), on the experimental Household Pulse Survey. These data are weighted, and the details can be found at: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/pulse/long-covid.htm

Covid-19 Impact Criterion for Level Status

These community risk levels are informed by The Center for Disease Control's calculation of COVID-19 risk and public health recommendations. The thresholds are for the Charleston Metro Area (Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester). Further information can be found on the CDC website (Center for Disease Control and Prevention Website).

We report the growth rate of COVID-19 in weekly Internal MUSC Emergency Department visits and hospital admissions per 100k people. Risk Levels are defined as follows: Low, Medium, and High. We will include the wastewater data if it becomes available across all sites again.

LOW: The weekly ED visits are under 5% for two consecutive weeks.
MEDIUM: The weekly ED visits are above 5%. 
HIGH: The weekly ED visits are above 10%.    
Metrics shown reflect the day events occurred, not the day they were reported. DHEC releases data on a weekly basis.