COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – South Carolina Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette has returned to public life after being diagnosed with COVID-19 earlier this month.
Evette came to the South Carolina House chambers on Tuesday, meeting with members, giving hugs telling the story of how she recovered from the virus over and over again. She was wearing a mask.
Evette, 53, had a sore throat and a headache on Sept. 10 and sought out a coronavirus test that came back positive a day later. Her family and members of her security detail isolated themselves also.
Health officials said they can’t pinpoint where Evette got the virus, but they did inform anyone who had close contact with her, including an appearance to thank workers at a suicide prevention hotline in Greenville on Sept. 8.
House Speaker Jay Lucas welcomed Evette back to the House chamber. The Hartsville Republican joked from his location presiding over the House on the other side of the room “if it’s OK with you, I’ll just wave.”
Evette is one of at least 134,800 people in South Carolina to get COVID-19, according to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.
The state has reported 3,040 deaths since the pandemic began in March.
South Carolina’s cases continue to slowly decline for the most part. The seven-day average of new cases is around 775, some of the lowest numbers since mid-June. The percentage of positive tests is also continuing a regular decline.
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Follow AP coverage of the virus outbreak at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak.
