Lexington County is among SC's 10 healthiest counties.
The county ranks 6th behind Beaufort, York, Charleston, Dorchester and Greenville, the SC Institute of Medicine and Public Health reported.
It is ahead of Berkeley and Richland counties.
Beaufort is the healthiest county in the state and Williamsburg is least healthy.
According to the annual County Health Rankings, the 5 healthiest counties are Beaufort, York, Charleston, Dorchester and Greenville.
The 5 least healthy are Williamsburg, Allendale, Lee, Dillon and Marion.
See the rankings at www.CountyHealthRankings.org.
The unhealthiest counties have limited medical care, economic growth, personal wealth, job opportunities and internet access.
The rankings examine factors that impact how long and how well we live. 
They show stark differences in health and opportunity by race, ethnicity and place.
The data used to calculate ranks are from 2019 and earlier and do not yet reflect the impact of covid-19.
Considered are alcohol use, DUI deaths, smoking and other addictions, plus obesity, teen births and sexually transmitted diseases.
The pandemic has magnified the impact on people of color without quick access to schools, hospitals, internet, computers or cell phone service.
Hundreds of thousands of South Carolinians have no broadband access.
Through the CARES Act, state lawmakers allocated $30 million last year for broadband infrastructure.
 US Sens. Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott have a federal proposal that would:
• Provide $20 billion for fiber-optic cables, wireless and 5G technology.
• Use a reverse auction to provide top-quality broadband service at the lowest price for taxpayers.
• Send federal money to states with limited or no internet access at all.
“There are places in South Carolina you might as well be on the moon when it comes to high speed internet service,” Graham said.

For questions or comments, please email JerryBellune@yahoo.com

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