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At the onset of a South Carolina measles outbreak in Spartanburg County last fall, State Epidemiologist Linda Bell warned that the entire state should be concerned. Now that the Rock Hill region has its first confirmed case, that message hasn’t changed.

“The virus doesn’t observe any of these geographic borders,” Bell said Wednesday. “It doesn’t care where you live.”

The South Carolina Department of Public Health confirmed a Lancaster County measles case on Tuesday. The state is still investigating it and hasn’t determined where the person contracted the virus, or if there were any public exposures to measles in South Carolina related to the case.

The state referenced public exposures in North Carolina when announcing the Lancaster County case on Tuesday but didn’t state a clear connection between the two. The Lancaster County case had exposures in North Carolina, Bell said Wednesday. There are no known spots in South Carolina where public exposures happened from the Lancaster County case, she said.

Mecklenburg and Union counties, which both border Lancaster County on the state line, have reported a combined four measles cases.

Mecklenburg County also has three Charlotte sites where the public may have been exposed to measles in January, according to the North Carolina Division of Public Health. Vista Auction and Sardis Presbyterian Church on Sardis Road are listed, as is a Lidl grocery store on Monroe Road.

Union County has four potential exposure sites listed. American Family Urgent Care, a QuikTrip gas station and an Atrium Health Primary Care family medicine office are all in Indian Trail. Shining Light Baptist Academy is in Monroe.

One other site with a Charlotte address is listed, at the Atrium Health Harrisburg Emergency Department in Cabarrus County.

So far, no measles cases or public exposures have been announced for York or Chester counties.

In a country where measles cases were eliminated two decades ago, it’s unfortunate that cases continue to spread, Bell said.

”It tells us that we have a great deal more work to do to stop this outbreak that should not be happening,” she said.

Are measles cases increasing in SC?

While new to Lancaster County, measles cases statewide seem to be decreasing. The state saw fewer than 40 cases per week last year. Then, the first week of January brought 188 cases. Measles cases spiked the following week at 200. They’ve dropped each week since so far, to 68 cases last week.

Yet Bell cautions against reading too much into recent decreases. The virus is also impacting a broader area. More than 95% of cases are in Spartanburg County, but Lancaster County makes six counties to have reported a measles case.

“We are not sure yet if we are really seeing a slowing,” Bell said. “So this is really not the time for anyone to let their guard down and say this is over with.”

Surveillance, from medical sites reporting cases to wastewater testing, doesn’t give a strong signal that there’s rampant measles infections in communities, Bell said. The cases with unidentified sources of infections, like in Lancaster County, are still concerning.

“That does tell us that there may be some element of unidentified, unrecognized, low-level circulation of measles in our communities,” Bell said.

What to expect from measles

Vaccination is the main prevention for measles, Bell said. More than 92% of cases in South Carolina during this outbreak have been people who were unvaccinated. Only 2.7% of cases involved someone known to be fully vaccinated. More than 70% of cases involve some under the age of 12.

In York County, 93.7% of school students are fully vaccinated. Those numbers are 94.4% in Lancaster County and 92.1% in Chester County. Spartanburg is the lowest in the state, at 88.9%. Rock Hill region counties have lower vaccination rates today, like the rest of the state, compared to four years ago.

Whether cases decrease or begin to pop up in other places is highly dependent on community-level immunity from vaccination or immunity from prior infections, Bell said. Unlike the flu and some other viruses, measles aren’t expected to increase or decrease in certain seasons of the year.

“It is the most effective virus in finding susceptible people,” Bell said. “There’s no seasonality.”

Part of the uncertainty with what comes next is that South Carolina hasn’t faced this type of outbreak. Higher vaccination rates in the recent past meant the state never had more than half a dozen cases per year, typically confined to one family or imported from international travel, Bell said.

“This is not normal,” she said. “This is unprecedented.”

Target now owns property near Rock Hill where new retail, restaurants and homes are planned.

The Minnesota-based retailer bought more than 15 acres off Old York Road in December for $7.3 million, according to county land records. The site is just west of Adnah Church Road. It’s part of the 97-acre Newport Commons development.

The Herald wasn’t able to reach Target for specifics on company plans for the site. County records offer several details about the larger project, which went through rezoning in recent months.

Permits have been issued for the Newport Commons development, county records show. It includes a 148,000-square-foot “discount superstore,” a more than 36,000-square-foot strip retail plaza, a more than 4,800-square-foot convenience store with 12 fuel pumps, a 4,700-square-foot restaurant and three fast food restaurants with drive-thru windows.

Newport Commons also includes up to 147 homes and 75 townhomes, according to county records. Construction is expected to run through late 2028.

The site is just outside city limits. The property had homes and commercial space approved in 2008, but sat vacant since. New plans emerged last year in a Newport area that’s added restaurants and retail sites in recent years.

The York County Council saw plans in October showing up to 300,000 square feet of retail space and 95,000 square feet of office space, in addition to residential areas. That plan had a large retailer at the center of the property, now owned by Target.

The main anchor store in Newport Commons would go in as part of the first phase, the council heard last fall. It’s likely to trigger a traffic signal before second phase construction.

Target has a store in Rock Hill, off Dave Lyle Boulevard. Target opened a new store last year in Indian Land. One of the largest retailers in the country, Target has nearly 2,000 U.S. stores.

A case of measles has been reported in Lancaster County, according to a new report by the South Carolina Department of Public Health.

Among 13 new measles cases reported statewide on Tuesday, the one in Lancaster becomes the first in the Rock Hill region since an outbreak began last fall in the Spartanburg area. The state Health Department is investigating the source of the Lancaster County case.

The Health Department doesn’t give details on individual cases that could potentially identify patients. There are now 933 cases statewide since October.

No public exposures have been identified so far in relation to the Lancaster County case, according to the Health Department.

The Lancaster County School District began updating parents last fall as the outbreak began to spread. The district will follow state protocols, according to a Jan. 30 letter to parents. It said, in part:

“Unvaccinated children (including those with Religious, Medical, and 30 Day Exemptions) who are exposed to a measles case may need to be excluded from school, sports and afterschool activities for up to 21 days after their last exposure to the positive case, unless they are vaccinated within 72 hours of exposure. LCSD will follow the SC Department of Public Health (DPH) guidelines and recommendations for positive cases.”

Several potential measles exposure locations have been reported in North Carolina, in neighboring Mecklenburg and Union counties. Both counties are considered “medium coverage” for measles vaccination rates in schools at a little more than 90% of kindergarten students, according to a state dashboard.

South Carolina measles outbreak

South Carolina has 235 people in quarantine and six in isolation due to measles, some of them through March 5.

The state encourages vaccination against measles, a highly contagious viral disease that causes fever, cough, runny nose and skin irritation. Complications associated with it can lead to pneumonia, brain swelling and even death.

For more information, including what to do if you suspect measles exposure, visit dph.sc.gov.

Despite hearing answers directly from data center company QTS on its $1 billion project in Lake Wylie, many neighbors say their concerns have only grown as the data center project seems bigger than ever.

“We saw one beautiful building, glass walls and an American flag,” said former York County Council member Allison Love, who sat on Council when the project was approved for construction three years ago.

Renderings on Tuesday showed nine buildings. The scale is larger than what Love thought it would be when voting for it.

“I’m all for economic development,” she said. “I’m not for economic development that impacts people (negatively).”

The data center is expected to add 200 QTS on-site jobs, at a median income of about $80,000 per year. That’s in addition to an estimated dozen jobs from companies that use the site for data storage.

“The transparency is a big problem for me,” said neighbor Julie Ferraro.

She’s also concerned with strain on the power grid. Along with QTS, ongoing construction in the area includes a new high school, new elementary school and more homes.

“I don’t get it, when we already have a strain right now with what we have,” Ferraro said.

Steve and Judy Penland, longtime owners of the well-known Penland Christmas Tree Farm that borders the QTS property, brought renderings showing how an 80-foot-tall data center overlooking their farm would look. York County approved a code change last year to allow taller data centers, at the request of QTS.

Issues from lighting to the building height would be dramatic for customers at the farm, Steve Penland said.

“They want the farm experience, going out to the country to cut a Christmas tree,” he said.

From school funding to job creation to the work done at the site, there are significant benefits to the QTS project, said company Vice President of Community Engagement Karen DiMaggio.

“Everything in our lives is connected to the internet,” she said. “Every day, you’re using your phones, your tablets, your computers. We run the systems that post the information.”

QTS plans in York County

Three years ago, QTS spent more than $10 million to buy hundreds of acres off Hands Mill Highway and Campbell Road. The company also negotiated a tax incentive deal with York County.

Data centers are a growing industry nationwide, fueled largely by the growth of artificial intelligence platforms. Details about specific projects, from costs to environmental impacts, are often difficult to find.

QTS touted a $1 billion investment with its data center project in Lake Wylie. The company would be allowed to pay the county a fee instead of property taxes for 40 years.

Last spring, York County changed its development rules to allow taller data centers — up to 80 feet — in line with QTS’ plans for a 5.3 million-square-foot facility. In late December, QTS bought more than 400 acres of Paraham Road property for $26.1 million.

The company now owns nearly 800 acres in the area.

QTS doesn’t have plans for the property purchased in December, but it could be used as a buffer or for future growth, DiMaggio said.

Water and power concerns

Based in Virginia, QTS has more than 20 years experience building data centers. The company has more than 2,000 employees and more than 90 buildings in the U.S. and Europe.

A primary public concern with a new data center, DiMaggio said, is water.

“There is a lot of misinformation out in the community about water usage and data centers,” she said. “Old practices had an evaporative cooling system. Water was pumped in on a daily basis, using thousands and thousands of gallons every day.”

Now, she said, water is pumped into the facility only once and operates on a closed-loop system. The initial fill is about the amount of water in four Olympic-size swimming pools. The daily water usage is about 18,000 gallons, DiMaggio said, or less than what two typical households would use.

“It’s office water use,” she said. “It’s kitchens, because we have offices in there. So people use the restroom, wash their hands, they drink out of the water fountains. That is our use of water. That’s it.”

Another concern is power. York Electric Cooperative will serve the site, but it’s actually power provided by Duke Energy that will be used. Duke will sell power to York Electric partner Central Electric Power Cooperative, and York Electric will sell it back to QTS with a markup.

Increased need for power will be treated the same way it would for large industrial additions, population growth and other needs tied to the electric system, experts said Tuesday. York Electric customers shouldn’t notice a difference, said President and CEO Craig Spencer.

“If anything, it should help minimize future rate increases because we will have this revenue that will be coming in that we don’t have to make infrastructure investments for, paybacks for,” he said. “We will be able to use those margins to help offset our fixed costs.”

QTS to build over several years

The 1,000 construction jobs could last five to seven years, DiMaggio said. Four building are under construction, with the first expected to be ready by 2028. In 2027, the company expects to start the next round of construction on five more buildings.

For some, there’s excitement with that activity. Sheila Quinn, superintendent of the Clover School District, compares QTS to Catawba Nuclear Station, which has for decades provided a significant tax base to support schools. The Clover area doesn’t get large manufacturers the way other parts of York County do, Quinn said.

Numbers change over time in the tax incentive deal, but Clover schools expect to get several million dollars per year based on current QTS plans.

“It’s like another power plant,” Quinn said. “It will help tremendously.”

Some neighbors of the property, though, are in the York School District, which doesn’t get that same benefit. For many, the issue is whether QTS fits in the community. They can’t do much about ongoing construction, but there’s concerned if more is proposed.

“It’s a small town,” Ferraro said. “I understand we have to grow. The fact that it’s grown exponentially is beyond what this town can accommodate.”

YORK COUNTY — The Rock Hill area just made it through its first weekend in three weeks without snow.

That’s a relief not just to residents, but also to public works employees, first responders and emergency management personnel who dealt with their first major snow events in York County in decades. They’re hoping they learned enough to carry them into the next winter storm.

“We had two storms back-to-back that were completely different,” said Erik Rekitt, the county’s public works manager. “We knew that one was going to be more of an ice event. We knew the second was going to be a snow event, so that’s when you pivot.”

The Jan. 24 snowfall dropped minimal snow with a bit of sleet and freezing rain, whereas the Jan. 30 storm accumulated up to 10 inches of snow in parts of York County.

“Our public works crews, they were amazing,” said Deana Keever, assistant city manager for Rock Hill. “They worked in 12-hour shifts to make sure that we could keep up with clearing the roads. But as soon as they cleared the roads, the snow kept coming. And they sort of felt defeated. You know, it looks like we haven't done anything. But had we not done that, it might have been more difficult to clear by the time the snow had stopped.”

Managing the roads was a critical part of the snow response for municipalities, the county and the South Carolina Department of Transportation. Balancing the needs for winter storm preparation for an area that doesn’t get snow annually can be a challenge, Rekitt said.

“It's unique that these events occurred right in the midst of budget planning,” he said. “So we are trying to get some additional equipment, but not too much. You don't want to buy a bunch of equipment if you're not going to use it for 20 years.”

Previous purchases were made with multi-purpose use in mind, he said.

“We have motor graders, earth moving machines and a 10-foot plow on a truck to move snow, but all that equipment is also used in our daily maintenance,” he said.

On the supply side, Rekitt said the county could look into keeping its own supply of salt for future snow.

“Right now we get our salt from SCDOT, but we’re looking at maintaining our own supply going forward and having additional salt spreaders to go with the brine,” he said.