Gov. McMaster shares SC epidemiologist’s concern over lack of masks, social distancing
Gov. Henry McMaster said Wednesday he is concerned over the lack of masks and social distancing being practiced by people in public, echoing sentiments South Carolina’s epidemiologist Dr. Linda Bell shared with Richland County officials on Tuesday.
”There are people who are not going to be careful,” he said Wednesday speaking to reporters after a meeting of his COVID-19 task force. McMaster urged members of the public to be their “own doctor” and take steps to protect themselves from the novel coronavirus, which more than 8,000 S.C. residents have tested positive for as of Wednesday.
The comments came two days after McMaster rolled back additional restrictions on businesses in his effort to get the state’s economy moving again. On Monday, McMaster announced that close-contact businesses, such as fitness centers, gyms and salons, could reopen Monday, May 18.
“You don’t need a mask everywhere, but there are many places where you do need one. Again, we urge people to pay attention to what (the) health authorities are saying.”
McMaster, who has extended his emergency order another 15 days, said the state can’t police every South Carolinian, asking people to make their own smart decisions.
“The best defense is a well-informed citizenry,” he said. “We hope people will be very careful in all their activities.”
In a virtual meeting Tuesday, Bell told Richland County leaders charged with the county’s COVID-19 response that she does not want people to “lose sight” of the prevention measures she and the state’s Department of Health and Environmental Control have issued.
But, she said, the message is being missed.
“I am rather alarmed by the fact that as I try and restrict my activities in public, when I do go out, I would say that 10% of people in the businesses and stores when I have been out this past weekend had on masks,” Bell said. “From a policy standpoint, reinforcing what we can to do to prevent disease is equally important, perhaps, as finding disease that’s already present.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have recommended that any person going out in public wear cloth masks when social distancing measures are hard to maintain. That’s especially important, health experts say, as the state scales back business restrictions.
“There may be people in the community who believe I don’t need a mask because I’m not in one of the risk groups that was listed,” Bell told officials Tuesday. “I hope that’s not creating confusion for people in the public. We want people to understand ... you can still be infected and you can still spread that infection to someone in your household, your loved ones, your community members.”
As of Wednesday, the state’s public health agency had documented 8,030 positive coronavirus cases in South Carolina since DHEC first started collecting case numbers back in March. Of those cases, more than 362 had resulted in death, the agency said.
DHEC has reported the state could report more than 56,600 positive cases.
Bell told Richland County officials she is particularly concerned by recent reports of large gatherings in areas like Five Points, a popular destination for college students.
“We see these social gatherings, they’re not essential activities,” Bell said. “They’re just people on the streets in Five Points, shoulder to shoulder. It was on the front page of the paper, students out there, and not a one of them had a mask on, and that concerns me deeply. There are things that we can do about that to prevent disease spread, and as long as we continue to see those types of behaviors, we’re going to continue to see high levels of disease activity.”
Joseph Bustos contributed to this report.
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This story was originally published May 13, 2020 at 5:02 PM with the headline "Gov. McMaster shares SC epidemiologist’s concern over lack of masks, social distancing."
