After a week during which the recommendation was paused, people are again encouraged to mask against COVID-19 in public indoor spaces in Lexington County. 

And we’ve got a lot of company.

The county’s COVID Community Level, a tool provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to guide counties according to the latest local data, is back up to high. Overall, 32 of the state’s 46 counties have a high level this week, triggering a recommendation from the CDC and the state Department of Health and Environmental Control to mask in public indoors.

13 S.C. counties have a medium Community Level this week, and one (Allendale) has a low level.

The 32 counties with a high level represents a sharp uptick. Last week, there were just eight counties, all contained in the PeeDee, with a high community level.

In the Midlands, Lexington County neighbors Richland, Newberry and Aiken have high levels, as do Edgefield, Barnwell and Fairfield. Lexington’s other neighboring counties — Saluda, Orangeburg and Calhoun — have medium levels, which triggers a recommendation that masks be worn on public transportation and if you have symptoms, a positive test or are exposed to someone with COVID.

Before last week, Lexington's level was high for three straight weeks.

Lexington County saw increases in all three metrics used to determine COVID Community Levels.

In the seven days leading up to July 14, the rate of new cases per 100,000 people was 345.44 (up from 329.71), the rate of COVID hospital admissions per 100,000 people was 15.9 (up from 8.6), and the percentage of staffed inpatient beds in use by COVID patients was 4.5% (up from 2.2%).

1,032 total new cases were reported in the county during this time, with no COVID deaths.

As of July 11, the positivity rate for the last week among those tested in Lexington County was 26.3% (up 3.66% from the week before). 3,244 tests were performed in the county during this time.