Sports Bar in Dorchester, SC

Daily Covid-19 admissions in the Dorchester County area

Oct. 2022 Dec. Feb. 2023 April June Aug. 1.5 hospital admissions per 100,000

About the data

Data is from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Hospitalization data is a daily average of Covid-19 patients in hospital service areas that intersect with Dorchester County, an area which may be larger than Dorchester County itself.

The number of daily hospital admissions shows how many patients tested positive for Covid in hospitals and is one of the most reliably reported indicators of Covid’s impact on a community.

Total population

Ages 65 and up

Total population

Ages 65 and up

An updated vaccine is recommended for adults and most children. Statewide, 7% of vaccinations did not specify a home county.

Nearby hospitals

Share of I.C.U. beds occupied

About this data Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Notes: The hospitals map shows the average I.C.U. occupancy at nearby hospitals in the most recent week with data reported. The data is self-reported to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services by individual hospitals. It excludes counts from hospitals operated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Indian Health Service. Numbers for hospitalized patients are based on inpatient beds and include I.C.U. beds. Hospitalized Covid-19 patients include both confirmed and suspected Covid-19 patients. The C.D.C. stopped reporting data on cases in May 2023.

How trends have changed in Dorchester County

Hospitalized Covid-19 patients in the Dorchester County area Weekly new Covid hospital admissions Weekly deaths

About this data Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Notes: Weekly county death data prior to Jan. 2021 was not reported by the C.D.C. and is sourced from reporting by The New York Times. Hospitalization data is a weekly average of Covid-19 patients in hospital service areas that intersect with Dorchester County. Hospitalization numbers early in the pandemic are undercounts due to incomplete reporting by hospitals to the federal government.

Historical trends in Dorchester County

The data in these charts has been archived and they are no longer being updated.

Weekly cases Test positivity rate

About this data Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The data in these charts has been archived and they are no longer being updated. Weekly county case data prior to Jan. 2021 was not reported by the C.D.C. and is sourced from reporting by The New York Times. The C.D.C. stopped reporting data on cases in May 2023. Test positivity data is based only on test results reported to the federal government and is a seven-day average.

By Jon Huang, Samuel Jacoby, Jasmine C. Lee, John-Michael Murphy, Charlie Smart and Albert Sun. Additional reporting by Sarah Cahalan, Lisa Waananen Jones, Amy Schoenfeld Walker and Josh Williams. See a full list of contributors to The Times’s Covid-19 data reporting here.

About the data

Data on this page is reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Population and demographic data is from the U.S. Census Bureau. Hospitalization data is reported by individual hospitals to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and it includes confirmed and suspected adult and pediatric patients. The C.D.C. does not provide complete vaccinations data for some counties and caps its vaccination rate figures at 95 percent.

The C.D.C. may make historical updates as more data is reported.

The C.D.C. stopped reporting data on Covid cases in May 2023.

Here we go again, trying to figure out what part of “public’s business” a county council doesn’t understand.

This time, it’s the Dorchester County Council, which has been skulking around, assembling a detail-impoverished tax giveaway that even one of the most vocal advocates of tax giveaways acknowledges is unusual.

Worse, the council tentatively approved an even more secretive “development-and-supply” agreement that it has refused to make public, even in a redacted or coded version. That implies that the council plans to buy or sell some undisclosed something from or to its secret beneficiary for some undisclosed sum. And that, unlike normal tax-incentive deals that use code names, appears not only to break trust with the public but also to violate state law.

The purpose of requiring councils to vote in public on ordinances is so the public may know what they’re voting on, and state law specifically requires governing boards to release meeting minutes that include the “substance of all matters proposed, discussed or decided.”

If all the secrecy of the potentially massive tax giveaway and mysterious two-thirds-approved contract weren’t enough, The Post and Courier’s David Wren reports, the county doesn’t even plan to require its unidentified beneficiary to create any jobs in return. As usual, the incentive package reduces the assessed value of land and buildings to the 4% rate otherwise reserved by homeowners, and locks in the assessed value for 40 years, but it also refunds 100% of the company’s taxes on personal property, such as vehicles, which is pretty close to unheard of. In return for a promise of zero jobs.

To be clear: Providing jobs for South Carolinians isn’t simply a nice side benefit of government economic development efforts. It is the purpose of those efforts. Or at least it’s supposed to be.

Editorials

What good, after all, does it do us for a company to spend a lot of money on buildings that for decades won’t generate enough taxes to pay for the public services they demand if it doesn’t provide a healthy number of jobs? And good-paying jobs at that?

If Mr. Wren is reading the tea leaves correctly, this could be the latest Google server farm, which will be good for Google, and will drink up a lot of Lowcountry water, and probably will produce some jobs. It might or might not improve the quality of life in Dorchester County. And, as we saw in Berkeley County, the company has a tendency to be even more secretive than S.C. economic development officials; in that case, the company required the county to sign nondisclosure agreements that hid how much Google is paying in property taxes along with how much water it’s purchasing from the county and at what price.

Editorials

If the industrial prospect is in fact Google, the Dorchester County Council needs to refuse to go along with such a deal again.

Of course, it might not be Google, but whatever the company, the point is the same about jobs.

Editorials

And even if the mysterious Project Orchid does end up employing a lot of local residents, at good wages, that still doesn’t justify the secrecy, which produces two problems of its own.

First, when counties and the state sign incentive deals with companies before or at the moment they reveal the identity of their new partner, the public can’t weigh in on whether the company is one it wants. Maybe it’s another Scout Motors, but maybe it’s another Viva Recycling.

Editorials

Second, it means public officials are relieved of the obligation to properly vet the company, to make sure it can deliver on its end of the deal. Think the Panthers football team, which left Rock Hill and York County officials holding the bag when it pulled out of an extremely poorly vetted deal to build a practice facility near its Charlotte headquarters.

We have more confidence in the judgment of today’s state economic recruiters than we’ve had in the past, because they’ve been more willing to do part of their business in public. But their deals still require us to subsidize the investments that seem appropriate to people whose mandate is to maximize the amount of money companies invest in infrastructure — regardless of how many jobs are promised, regardless of how those investments could affect our air and water and other assets whose value can be diminished by the wrong investments, regardless, frankly, of whether they’re likely to meet whatever promises officials require them to make.

Editorials

We deserve better than that, and since economic incentive packages inevitably begin with county tax breaks, better starts with county councils saying no to secrecy and yes to making the details of their deals public soon enough for the public to weigh in, ask questions that recruiters might not have asked and insist on answers before anybody signs on a dotted line.

The Dorchester County Council has the opportunity to lead the way, by providing details about Project Orchid before it meets on Sept. 5 to complete the deal. It needs to do so.

Click here for more opinion content from The Post and Courier.

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The City of North Charleston and Dorchester County have taken the first steps in a land partnership to build a new senior center.

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - The City of North Charleston and Dorchester County have taken the first steps in a land partnership to build a new senior center.

Dorchester County Council unanimously approved a notion Monday night to continue the collaboration with the city to construct the facility on Patriot Boulevard.

“It’s truly a collaborative effort that shows how governments can work together for the greater good,” North Charleston City Councilmember Kenneth Skipper said.

Plans for the center are still in the early stages, but officials say it will mirror two existing locations in North Charleston: one in the Northwood area and another on Dorchester Road.

The cost for construction is set to be around $7 million, with $2 million being granted from the state.

“Being able to maximize what we’re getting from the state, assistance from the county as well as what the city can do, it’s really just a win for everybody” Skipper said.

This partnership is not the first between the city and Dorchester County.

The center will be just a walk away from two other projects connected to such collaborations: the city’s newest aquatic center and a public library, set to open its doors on Friday.

The new center will prioritize health and wellness and socialization for seniors by providing access to exercise equipment, group classes, outdoor spaces and more.

Officials say this decision comes from a need to put our local aging populations first and to create positive relationships between Lowcountry governments.

“We are not working in a vacuum, we all work together,” Skipper said. “Oftentimes, we focus on the youth and we forget about the aging population. It’s important that they have activities and places to go to exercise and interact with others.”

The project still has to go through planning and design work before construction starts.

Once it begins, Skipper told residents to expect it to take around 18 months to complete.

Copyright 2023 WCSC. All rights reserved.

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — At Fort Dorchester High School, the community comes together for their football team. Over the weekend, the community came together once again. But instead of watching the Patriots on the field, they're helping one of their own off it.

Kevin White Jr. is a wide receivers coach for Fort Dorchester. At 34 years old, White has Stage 4 epithelioid angiosarcoma. It’s a very rare cancer developed from a hematoma in the tissue of his hamstring. The disease spread to his lungs and bones, limiting his mobility and forcing him to take numerous trips to the hospital for treatment.

He was diagnosed with the disease last year following a reoccurring injury in his calf from his time playing at the University of South Carolina.

But on Friday, a GoFundMe page was started for the coach to raise money to help him with medical bills. In just three days, more than $25,000 has been raised, clearing the initial fundraising goal by more than $10,000.

Fellow coach Steve LaPrad says this shows the power of the community around Fort Dorchester.

“They care about people, and I think they showed the power here last four or five months in various ways. There are a lot of good people in this town, and I know they're gonna come to Kevin’s aid and [would] have come to anybody's aid who needs [it]," LaPrad said. "That’s the kind of people [they are]. We're close here at Dorchester. We don't forget our folks. He's a good one."

LaPrad says he plans to organize another fundraiser for White starting Monday, through the football team, with the goal of matching the donation amount of the GoFundMe.

WCIV

White, a Fort Dorchester alum and hall of fame member of the football program, was part of the legendary Patriot teams with NFL players Carlos Dunlap Jr. and Robert Quinn.

Returning as a coach, he is now a staple for the program with many fellow coaches saying those he has always made sure to put others first.

A good example of that was back in 2015 when White was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Even with daily chemo treatments, LaPrad says White never missed a practice. White even ran the practices himself when LaPrad wasn't there.

His commitment to the team, unmatched.

White helped develop multiple Division I athletes. White is also an elementary school teacher.

LaPrad says he was always there for the kids, and now it's time to be there for him.

“He never missed a practice. He would go right behind the building, I’m sure [it] was to throw up or whatever. But never, never, never missed practice. Never missed a game. Never missed a workout. Never. That's what kind of person he is,” LaPrad said. “We love him, we’re thinking about him. He knows anything he asked us, oh man, I'd definitely do it for him in a heartbeat. He's good. That's a good man right there."

The impact of White is felt over generations. His relationship with Quinn and Dunlap earned him a trip to the Super Bowl this past year. LaPrad, who was also in attendance, said it was the happiest he has ever seen him.

Click here if you'd like to learn more about White’s story or want to help out.

A business going by the code name Project Orchid would be in line for some of the biggest tax breaks ever doled out by Dorchester County if the deal, which has already received initial approval, is finalized.

County Council recently gave the second of three required thumbs-up to an agreement that would cut the mystery firm’s property tax bill to 4 percent of the assessed value of any land and buildings it occupies for the next 40 years. That’s the same rate a homeowner would pay, but it’s a better deal because the property value is locked in for four decades rather than being reassessed every five years.

The agreement would also refund 100 percent of the company’s taxes on any personal property it owns.

In exchange for those tax breaks, Project Orchid would invest at least $510 million into its operations.

Such agreements usually require a certain number of jobs in addition to a minimal investment, but Project Orchid isn’t promising any positions in exchange for the incentives.

It’s not clear what other public financial assistance the prospect might be getting from the S.C. Commerce Department, because the agency won’t disclose its incentive package until after the company’s name has been disclosed and the deal is done.

John Truluck, the county’s economic development director, declined to comment on Project Orchid.

“With this being a pending economic development project, I am not at liberty to discuss it until it gets a third reading before County Council,” Truluck said. “Right now, I don’t know if, or when that may be.”

County Council had also been considering a development-and-supply agreement for Project Orchid that might have given some insight into the company’s identity. However, unlike other ordinances it considers, the document was never made public before it was pulled from an agenda prior to the second of the three needed approvals.

John Frampton, the county’s attorney, did not respond to The Post and Courier’s request for a copy of the document, and the county has not explained why it was never made public even though elected officials had previously voted on it.

Frampton told the council during a July 24 meeting that the matter would be reintroduced at a later date as a “simple resolution” that would only require a single vote for approval.

Burnie Maybank, an economic development lawyer with Adams and Reese LLP in Columbia, said the combination of property tax cuts and a 100 percent refund of personal property taxes is unusual.

“I’ve never seen 100 percent on a whole project, but I have seen 100 percent on portions of a project,” said Maybank, who was director of the S.C. Department of Revenue under former governors David Beasley and Mark Sanford.

County officials are being tight-lipped about who and what Project Orchid is.

Business

However, their counterparts in neighboring Berkeley County provided a similar incentive deal to Google in 2007 when the technology behemoth chose Mount Holly Commerce Park near Moncks Corner as the site for a data center that helps direct internet traffic.

The company, part of Alphabet Inc., paid no taxes on its capital costs for its high-tech site off S.C. Highway 52. Its property tax bill has been minimal — an average of about $28,000 a year, according to a records review by The Post and Courier.

Berkeley County also did not require Google, which bought its Mount Holly property under the name Maguro Enterprises LLC, to promise any new jobs at the data center.

Google has been rumored to be looking at Dorchester County for another Lowcountry data center location. The company did not respond to a request for comment.

It isn’t clear whether Project Orchid is Google, but another move elected officials are making in tandem with the tax breaks might offer a clue.

Google needs access to a lot of water to cool the servers at its data centers. The Mount Holly site, for example, uses up to 1.5 million gallons a day.

Google is said to be looking at a location in the Dorchester County seat of St. George, a tiny town with its own water department that serves roughly 1,800 residents. But the small utility wouldn’t be able to accommodate the company’s needs.

County Council recently gave initial approval to a proposal that would allow the much larger county-owned water system to serve some of St. George’s territory. The stated reason was “to promote economic development within Dorchester County.”

The mystery was compounded over the weekend when the county published a public notice for third and final reading of the incentives deal for Project Orchid, which the notice identified as Autumn Timber LLC. A records search found no company operating under that name and the company was incorporated in Delaware, which does not require a corporation’s members to provide their names or any other identifiable information on public documents. Autumn Timber was registered with the S.C. Secretary of State on Aug. 1.

Companies sometimes register as a limited liability corporation to hide their identities while being courted for economic development deals. That was the case with Google, which went by Maguro Enterprises in Berkeley County. More recently, Redwood Materials registered as Camp Hall Campus 3 LLC before going public with its plans to build a battery recycling plant in Ridgeville.

A suite deal

One of the wide-body Dreamliner jets that Boeing Co. builds in North Charleston is the next commercial plane to get the mini-suite treatment.

The Federal Aviation Administration this month granted American Airlines an exemption from safety rules so the carrier can have Boeing install a feature that gives privacy-seeking passengers a way to separate themselves from the masses on the mid-sized 787-9.

The mini-suite design includes a premium seat that’s partitioned off from the rest of the cabin by a sliding door. The space also includes a private entertainment system, ottoman and personal storage unit.

The business class feature — up to 51 mini suites per jet — will be available on American’s 787-9 deliveries starting in 2024.

Business

FAA rules prohibit obstructions, like doors, that could make evacuations more difficult. American, in its exemption request, said the mini suites actually make evacuation easier because the space they take up reduces overall passenger capacity.

The sliding doors are required to be open during taxiing, takeoffs and landings, and they have to be low enough that an average-sized person could climb over them. The doors also can’t be locked, and the FAA may require up to two additional flight attendants for planes with the feature.

American, in its pitch to the safety agency, said the higher-priced suites could also help lower air fares.

“This additional revenue helps to provide an offset opportunity to reduce the cost of economy class travel, thus providing the potential to benefit all passengers of the flying public, all without compromising safety,” the carrier said.

Mini suites were introduced a couple years ago and are already becoming a common type of premium seating for long-haul flights. The FAA has granted previous exemptions for the feature to be added to several Airbus models as well as the South Carolina-built 787-10, which can have as many as 80 mini suites on a single aircraft.

This story was updated on Aug. 20, 2023