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Sumter County now has 126 confirmed cases, Clarendon 75 and Lee 24.

Each of the tri-county rates represents the highest in the state only behind Kershaw County, whose Camden saw the earliest outbreak in the state.

Seeing the Midlands occupy the top spots for highest rate of cases follows projections from the state health department that are expecting more than 8,000 confirmed cases by May 5 and follows a designation from the S.C. Army National Guard that Sumter County is the "emerging hot spot" and the counties throughout the Midlands, as well as other big cities in the state, are "consecutive hot spots."