With COVID-19 levels continuing to rise around South Carolina, Lexington County is recommended to mask against the virus for a second-straight week.

The county has a lot more company when it comes to the masking recommendation than it did last week. 

17 counties have a high COVID Community Level, which brings with it the recommendation for universal masking in indoor public spaces from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the state Department of Health and Environmental Control, Lexington neighbors Saluda and Richland among them. Last week, five counties had a high level.

17 of the state’s 46 counties have a medium level this week, up from 13.

The Community Levels, issued by the CDC using the latest local data, offer guidance to counties on how to best combat the virus. Before last week, the last time Lexington was given a universal recommendation for masking in public spaces was Sept. 15.

COVID numbers in the county continue to rise, with the case rate going to 283.51 per 100,000 people in the seven days leading up to Dec. 29. In previous weeks, the number went from 88.37 to 202.18 to 202.51 to 250.04.

The rate of new COVID hospital admissions per 100,000 people, one of the two other metrics that goes into determining Community Levels, also went up, going from 10.4 last week (just more than the 10 threshold for a high level) to 15.

Lexington also went up in the final metric, going from 3.4% of staffed inpatient hospital beds in use by COVID patients to 4.8%.