‘Can’t treat people like this’: Beaufort Co. police warn against targeting visitors
“VISITORS MUST QUARANTINE NOW SC LAW” a digital sign reads along Beach City Road near the Hilton Head Island Airport.
On Friday, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster ordered all visitors from New York state and several other hot spots of coronavirus infections to quarantine themselves for 14 days upon arrival.
Those who violate the mandatory quarantine are subject to a $1,000 fine and up to 30 days in jail.
Over the weekend, several residents in Beaufort County took it upon themselves to enforce the order, posting photos of out-of-state license plates on social media and leaving a note on a car suspected of being owned by visitors.
While the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office says its deputies will enforce the order when necessary, they’re encouraging residents “not to take matters into their own hands or make assumptions about Beaufort County visitors,” a news release said.
Bluffton Police Department Capt. Joe Babkiewicz said Bluffton officers will meet with those suspected of not following the governor’s order if they get a call about it, but they will not pull over cars just because they have out-of-state plates.
“We asked our town attorneys for their legal opinion on this,” he said. “We have to balance two things, and that’s ensuring what we’re doing is constitutional, and making sure our community stays safe.”
Residents should call the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office or the Bluffton Police Department if they suspect somebody of breaking the governor’s order, Maj. Bob Bromage and Babiewicz said Tuesday.
“If we’re called about somebody visiting from out of state, we are going to approach those people and hand them information about the requirement to quarantine,” Bromage said. “We’re going to enforce the governor’s order, but the best way to do that is to educate first.”
On social media over the weekend and early this week, residents in several Facebook groups shared photos of cars with out-of-state plates or posted comments like “ALL TOURISTS NEED TO GO BACK TO WHEREVER THEY CAME FROM!”
One resident left a note on a car with a New York license plate. The note said that the sheriff’s office and security “have been notified of your location. Please stay healthy + please follow quarantine guidelines. During this time HHI IS NOT a vacation destination any more than NYC!”
Bromage said the person who received the note has been on Hilton Head since January and was not ordered to quarantine.
“At the end of this pandemic, there’s got to be some humanity left. We can’t treat people like this,” Bromage said. “Posting license plates on social media ... that’s not who we are. It’s a product of the stress. The people that they are illuminating are under the same stress and are going through the same thing.”
Enforcement?
The governor’s executive order on Friday applies to anyone coming into South Carolina — whether visitors or S.C. residents — from New York state, New Jersey, Connecticut and New Orleans, which have been identified as major centers of COVID-19 infections.
Some posts lamented that local officials and police weren’t doing enough to prevent tourists from visiting Hilton Head Island, Bluffton and other parts of Beaufort County.
Bromage said the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office has received calls from residents about out-of-state plates and a report of one note on a car.
Babkiewicz said the Bluffton Police Department has not received any calls about visitors not quarantining.
Along U.S. 278 near Jenkins Island, a digital sign urges residents and visitors to “PLEASE STAY HOME.”
Inside Signature Flight Support HXD at Hilton Head Island Airport, a health alert is taped to the counter, informing travelers arriving from hotspots that they must quarantine.
A digital sign along Beach City Road tells visitors leaving Hilton Head airport to quarantine per state law.
Babkiewicz and Bromage said officers will meet with visitors suspected of not quarantining and inform them of the order. If visitors still fail to comply with the order, officers will ticket them.
According to a flight arrival tracker, nine flights were scheduled to land or had already landed on Hilton Head Tuesday. Two of the scheduled flights were from areas deemed coronavirus hotspots: Syracuse, New York, and Teterboro, New Jersey.
This story was originally published March 31, 2020 at 2:53 PM.
