Beaufort and Port Royal don’t plan local orders to stay home. Here’s why
Mayors for the city of Beaufort and town of Port Royal don’t plan to order residents to stay home amid the spread of coronavirus and instead will hold out for a broader directive.
Gov. Henry McMaster has resisted a statewide order as more states are telling residents to shelter in place, saying the decision would be a last resort. Charleston on Wednesday night became the first city in the state to enact local stay-at-home rules.
Beaufort Mayor Billy Keyserling said City Council plans to join other Beaufort County governments this week in asking McMaster for a shelter in place-type order. Port Royal Mayor Joe DeVito said the town could do the same soon.
Keyserling said he feels he has the power to issue such an order to city residents locally under a state of emergency. But a citywide order would cause too much confusion among people who might not understand political boundaries, he said.
“For a small city of only 13,500, to go it alone would unfortunately add confusion and so we have been holding off on what I would like to do and I think my council would like to do,” Keyserling said. “I’m hoping we can get the County Council and four municipalities to work together so we could do something countywide, so that we didn’t confuse people.”
DeVito also said Port Royal has no plan to strike out on its own.
“I don’t know how that would benefit our community,” DeVito said. “For this to work, it has to be a regional issue.”
Hilton Head Island planned an emergency meeting Thursday to vote on a resolution asking McMaster to issue a stay-at-home order. The town is prepared to issue its own order if the governor doesn’t, Hilton Head Mayor John McCann said.
Beaufort County Council was expected to join local municipalities in a resolution to the governor. But as of late Wednesday, the measure did not have support from all council members.
Local officials have echoed state and federal authorities in urging people to stay home if they can and keep at least 6 feet between people in public.
State health officials expect more than 8,000 COVID-19 cases by May as testing continues and the virus spreads.
