Citizens’ group to Town Council: Restrict entry to Hilton Head Island, now | Opinion
On behalf of the Coalition of Island Neighbors (“COIN”), we truly do not have adequate words to respond to the failure of the Hilton Head Island Town Council Thursday to act proactively on behalf of residents to address the COVID-19 pandemic.
In short, we are outraged. Nonetheless, we will try to address our outrage and that lack of leadership.
The Town Council’s action to ask the governor to issue a statewide “shelter in place” order wastes valuable time and was not our request.
Gov. Henry McMaster said Thursday that “it would be wise for cities to be implementing best practices for their areas.”
Columbia, Charleston, Greenville, Myrtle Beach, Isle of Palms, Folly Beach, and Edisto Beach have already taken their own actions. What has our Town Council done but ask others for direction or help?
Our “Petition to Protect Island Residents” asked for restricted entry for residents, with exceptions for essential workers and for owners of second homes to use their homes personally. No action was taken on that request.
The governor said that his decision-making team is getting advice from health care professionals, scientists, lawyers, business leaders and community members to have the best information in order to make the best possible decisions.
COIN proposed the establishment of a Pandemic Response Team to assess local conditions. This would be similar to the governor’s team and include plans to address the economic burdens on our workforce and businesses. Our request is posted on our Facebook page. No action was taken on that request.
We would like to applaud the courage it takes to balance competing interests and to decide for health and safety first. It would be nice if we could commend the Town Council for taking a creative approach to assist with the severe economic impacts on so many who live in and/or serve our community. Instead, we wait again and again and again for leadership to emerge.
There is still urgent work to be done. Perhaps, there is still time to get ahead of a spike in the spread of COVID-19 virus on Hilton Head. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and member of the national coronavirus task force, says other states need to prepare to take on outbreaks on the scale of New York.
South Carolina has already moved from containment to the next phase of disease management: mitigation. There are not enough testing materials to confirm all suspected cases. As of this writing, 456 individuals have tested positive in South Carolina, including 29 in Beaufort County. According to state estimates, a cumulative total of 8,000 cases are projected by early May.
The Town Council received a letter from the Chamber of Commerce, with signatures from a group of local rental businesses, pledging “to not accept any additional arrival reservations for the next two-week period beginning Friday, March 27-April 9, 2020.” We applaud that offer, but it opens the floodgates for Easter week vacations to Hilton Head since other South Carolina beach communities are closing until at least April 30.
The Town Council is scheduled to meet again on Monday, March 30, at 2 p.m. We understand it will be in the same format, with public comments through a town portal. During the next few days, comments can be sent to the mayor and Town Council members and to the town manager via their email addresses available on the town’s website.
Urge the following immediate actions: (1) Restrict entry; and (2) establish a response team.
We leave you with a quote from former U.N. Secretary-General, Kofi Atta Annan:
“I have always believed that on important issues, the leaders must lead. Where the leaders fail to lead, and people are really concerned about it, the people will take the lead and make the leaders follow.”
Patsy Brison and Risa Prince are co-founders of COIN.