Lexington County is still recommended to mask this week, but COVID-19 numbers are going down.

The county is one of 27 in the state with a high COVID Community Level, triggering the universal recommendation to mask in indoor public spaces from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the state Department of Health and Environmental Control. The levels, provided by the CDC, use updated local data to recommend best practices for combating the virus.

This week, 15 counties had a medium level, while four had a low level.

On July 29, there were 37 counties in the state with a high level. On Aug. 5, following a week in which DHEC said system problems prevented an update to the state’s levels, 32 counties graded as high.

According to the CDC, the case rate that goes into calculating the Community Level was down by nearly 17% between last week and this week in Lexington County, dropping from 441.7 new cases per 100,000 people to 366.53. The rate going into the July 29 level was 480.67.

In the other two numbers that go into a county’s Community Level, Lexington went down in one and up in the other. The rate of new COVID hospital admissions per 100,000 people was 14.1 (down from 17.7), and the percentage of inpatient hospital beds occupied by COVID patients was 6.1% (up from 6%).

The COVID levels surrounding Lexington continue a downward trend this week, as neighboring countries Aiken and Saluda both saw their levels drop, with Aiken going from high to medium and Saluda going from medium to low. 

Two neighboring counties (Newberry and Richland) have high levels this week, while three (Calhoun, Orangeburg and Aiken) have medium levels.