Thanksgiving week opens with COVID-19 testing at SC airport

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — As the Thanksgiving week begins, South Carolina’s chief medical school is joining with the Charleston airport to give free COVID-19 tests.

The testing site will be open Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the fourth floor of the daily parking garage at the Charleston International Airport, according to the Medical University of South Carolina.

Officials said they aren’t giving rapid result tests, so people shouldn’t get tested the day they plan to fly out of the airport. The results will take a day or two.

Airport employees, people who don’t plan to fly over the Thanksgiving holiday and anyone else seeking a COVID-19 test are also welcome to get tested, officials said.

South Carolina has seen a steady rise of cases since the end of October, and the seven-day average of new COVID-19 infections is up to nearly 1,600 a day. The only time the new infection rate has been higher since the pandemic started in March was for three weeks in July.

The virus has killed 3,982 people in South Carolina, the state Department of Health and Environmental Control reported Sunday.

Hundreds of other testing sites will be open this week across the state, DHEC said.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster has not closed businesses, added restrictions or a mask requirement since the fall surge started about a month ago.

On Friday, McMaster introduced a new recommendation for the holiday week, continuing his emphasis on personal responsibility by wearing masks and washing hands.

“Get tested before turkey,” McMaster said Thursday. “It’s easy to remember.”

Alex Tuhell

Co-founder and publisher

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