As Tidelands Health memorialized a year of COVID-19, a sea of luminaries brought forth both emotion and hope — a rare combination, but a needed one.
The COVID-19 vaccinations for Horry County Schools began on March 12 at Conway Medical Center, a facility still coming to grips with a lack of supply due to receiving less than 50 percent of its weekly requests since the beginning on February.
As McLeod Health Seacoast announces that it will open a new COVID-19 vaccine clinic at the Myrtle Beach Mall, both Tidelands Health and Conway Medical Center were deluged with appointment requests on March 8 as Phase 1B officially opened up.
As McLeod Health vaccinates 5,000 people over the next 48 hours, the news of South Carolina allowing those in Phase 1B to get the COVID-19 vaccine was met with both joy and fear, particularly for Conway Medical Center, which would like to start vaccinating HCS teachers on March 12.
For the second consecutive year, the Town of Atlantic Beach has canceled its annual Bikefest, usually held over Memorial Day weekend.
While Tidelands Health is celebrating a record-breaking allotment of the COVID-19 vaccine for the coming days, Conway Medical Center will receive 80 percent less than its counterparts. Meanwhile, Coastal Carolina is opening itself up for on-campus events with a change in its operating plan.
McLeod Health announced on Feb. 23 that it will be holding a mass COVID-19 vaccination event at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center on March 2-3 that will make 5,000 does available to those that meet the Phase 1A criteria.
Thousands are awaiting their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while others worry that their second dose won't be available. Their worries aren't far-fetched, as both Conway Medical Center and Tidelands Health continue to get only a fraction of the weekly vaccine requests they make.
City council passed a motion to approve an extension to an emergency ordinance requiring masks in certain establishments due to the pandemic at a meeting Thursday night.
"But Tidelands Health — like other health systems across our region and nation — is not receiving enough vaccine supply to meet demand," says Bruce Bailey, Tidelands Health's CEO.
Tidelands Health has now administered more than 10,000 doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, but its pace moving forward will have to do with supply, not the demand.
Though no budget was proposed at this time for the 2021-2022 fiscal year, Georgetown County School Board held a public brainstorming session to discuss the needs of county schools.
Among the medical outlets facing growing pressure to dole out COVID-19 vaccines from Gov. Henry McMaster, Tidelands Health says that nearly 34,000 individuals that are 70 years and older have signed up to receive the Pfizer vaccine since last Wednesday.
Local legislators are pushing federal representatives to help South Carolina with its COVID-19 vaccine shortage, according to a statement Saturday from 16 area legislators.
The Georgetown County School District announced a new instructional method on Wednesday evening, with elementary and intermediate school students now having the ability to have in-person instruction four days per week on the “Hybrid Plus” plan.
GEORGETOWN — Just days after it announced that it would return to hybrid instruction, the Georgetown County School District announced that it had changed its decision and will remain in remote instruction next week.
Ashley Griffith, head nurse in the critical care unit at Georgetown Memorial Hospital, has seen her fair share of ups and downs since the outset of the coronavirus pandemic, and offered up a behind-the-scenes look at the raw emotion that comes along with it.
The Georgetown County School District announced on Tuesday afternoon that it would extend remote instruction by one week due to “high” spread of COVID-19 throughout the county.
At Tidelands Health, which operates the Waccamaw Community Hospital and Georgetown Memorial Hospital, reported 80 COVID-19 inpatients on Sunday, a new record for the medical outlet. On Monday, the hospitals along the Grand Strand set a new mark for concurrent COVID-19 hospitalizations with 246.
The forecast for New Year’s Eve is mid-60s with a bit of cloud cover and a chance of rain, so grab your raincoat and take yourself or those you live with to any of these beautiful places around Myrtle Beach to ring in the new year safely.
With Christmas Day bringing about the largest single-day number of new COVID-19 cases since July 4 with 260, Horry County is potentially tracking to experience its worst month since the outset of the coronavirus pandemic.
Christmas came a bit early for the Lakes at Litchfield retirement community, even if the gift was a bit delayed in delivery. On Monday morning, workers and residents received the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, with nearly 200 doses arriving in Pawleys Island for CVS Health to administer.
Tidelands Health reported on Tuesday that it had 62 COVID-19 inpatients at its two hospitals, setting the single-day record. It also set off alarm bells that despite the Pfizer vaccine being administered locally, the holidays pose a threat to make the hill that medical professionals are climbing much steeper.
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control announced 90 new COVID-19 cases in Georgetown County on Friday, setting a single-day high for the county. Meanwhile, Horry County added 135 cases as it reached triple figures for the seventh consecutive day.
The Georgetown County School District announced Friday afternoon that it will move to “remote” instruction when school resumes after the Winter Break on Jan. 4, 2021, due to potential COVID-19 positivity over the coming Winter Break.
Both Tidelands Health in Murrells Inlet and Spartanburg Regional in the Upstate doled out their first doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.
A day after Conway Medical Center made history by injecting five staff members with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, a sobering report from the area’s hospitals points to the continuing rise of COVID-19 throughout both Horry and Georgetown counties — including a hospital chain at 114 percent capacity.
Father Michel Bineen Mukad, administrator of St. Mary Our Lady of Ransom Catholic Church in Georgetown, died Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020. He was 38. His self-inflicted death came a day after a diagnosis of COVID-19.
As both Horry and Georgetown school districts see a measurable uptick in positive COVID-19 cases, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control announced an additional 140 cases in Horry County and 13 in Georgetown County on Wednesday afternoon.
The J. Reuben Long Detention Center announced that 56 inmates have recently tested positive for COVID-19 and are now in isolation in designated isolation units.
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control announced 181 new cases in Horry County on Monday — the county’s highest total since July 15.
With a trio of hospitals in both Horry and Georgetown counties now sitting 95 to 100 percent occupied as of Friday afternoon, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control announced an additional 113 positive COVID-19 cases in Horry County, while Georgetown had its most since Aug. 21 with 21.
For the third time in 7 days, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control reported that Horry County had in excess of 100 new COVID-19 cases, with 126 announced on Wednesday afternoon.
With Horry County registering 111 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday and hospitals scrambling to keep up with demand, November has brought about further signs that the virus is gaining strength along the Grand Strand.
Ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday break, schools in Horry and Georgetown counties report dozens of staff and students in quarantine due to the coronavirus as of Tuesday.
Athletic directors, coaches and basketball players across the Grand Strand are preparing for a season like they have never experienced before due to the COVID-19 pandemic and are facing new guidelines for the upcoming indoor events.
A group of 483 “concerned” parents have banded together and intend to demand that the Georgetown County School District return to either four or five days of face-to-face instruction.
For the second consecutive day, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control reported that Horry County had more than 90 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, with November’s daily average now exceeding that of October.
The Grand Strand did its part to aid the drugmaker Pfizer, which announced Monday morning that it had developed a groundbreaking COVID-19 vaccine that has shown to be 90 percent effective.
Improvement shown at North Myrtle Beach High School, particularly among those on the field. In the meantime, about 25 minutes south, Carolina Forest had issues with both social distancing and mask protocols.
The SCHSL Executive Committee unanimously approved its winter sports guidelines proposal on Tuesday, 14-0, and reviewed it with the public on Friday after an unintelligible conference call.
The Andrews High School varsity football team has been forced to cancel its Friday game at Waccamaw due to a positive COVID-19 test with a player that has put the entire team and coaching staff into quarantine.
Myrtle Beach area hospitals exceed ICU capacity as the average daily positive coronavirus cases increases.
A homecoming and an overzealous social media account provided cause for concern as the Post and Courier Myrtle Beach continues its Friday Night Lights Unmasked series.
Tensions are growing between school district leaders from both Horry and Georgetown counties and the teachers and families they represent, with COVID-19 protocols at the heart of the issue — creating trust issues for many as both districts chose to not immediately follow their own back-to-school plans with the recent rise of the coronavirus in both counties.
As more transparency is demanded by parents and teachers, both Horry and Georgetown counties are taking different approaches to providing data about active COVID-19 cases in schools.
Students enrolled in Georgetown County School District's brick-and-mortar instruction will continue going to school in person though the county is now considered high spread for COVID-19, according to the latest South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control disease activity report.
MYRTLE BEACH — With 89 additional confirmed cases in Horry County announced by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control on Thursday — the highest number of daily cases reported in 70 days — the county has moved into “high recent disease activity,” according to DHEC.
Grand Strand Health announced Dr. George Helmrich will be its new Chief Medical Officer, replacing Dr. Andy Schwartz who retired at the end of August.
Editor's note: This is the first of an ongoing series called, "Friday Night Lights Unmasked," where we will continue to monitor the health protocols put into place by the South Carolina High School League and how schools follow them.
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