Bluffton votes down COVID-19 face mask requirements. When do they expire?
Amid a flurry of comments from anti-mask activists Tuesday evening, Bluffton officials followed suit with Beaufort County and will no longer require people to wear face masks inside buildings starting Thursday.
Bluffton Town Council voted 4-1 Tuesday to let its COVID-19 emergency face mask requirements expire on Wednesday, no longer requiring people to wear masks inside buildings open to the public. The rules had been in place since June 30.
The town’s vote came less than 24 hours after Beaufort County Council voted not to extend its mandatory face mask requirements for commercial and public buildings in unincorporated parts of the county. The county’s mask rules will expire on Thursday.
Council member Fred Hamilton was Bluffton’s sole elected leader who voted to extend the rules another 61 days. Referring to himself as the “Lone Ranger,” Hamilton said he does not like wearing a mask, but he felt the ordinance should still be in place to protect the public.
“I believe being safe is better than being sorry or feeling guilty,” he said. “If I save one person’s life ... then my sacrifice is worth it.”
Mayor Lisa Sulka and Council members Bridgette Frazier, Larry Toomer and Dan Wood voted against the extension. Toomer said he decided to vote no after speaking with town residents who oppose the mask requirement.
“My opinion is we are not in an emergency,” he said. “I’m here speaking strongly because I listen to my people. My people are saying ‘let us breathe.’”
Despite the decisions of Beaufort County and Bluffton, Beaufort, Hilton Head, Port Royal and Yemassee still have mask requirements in effect. Port Royal was expected to vote Wednesday evening on whether to extend its mask requirements. The other municipalities are expected to meet in the coming weeks.
After Beaufort County’s decision, Laura Renwick, a S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control spokeswoman, said the state health agency “continues to support mask wearing, including mask requirements by local jurisdictions.”
“While case and deaths counts are decreased from their winter peaks, the virus is still widespread in the state,” she wrote in a statement.
Dr. Scott Curry, an infectious disease specialist at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, added that it’s particularly important to wear masks now, as highly transmissible coronavirus variants circulate around the state.
“Masks are definitely an inconvenience. It’s absolutely true that they’re annoying and we’d like to get rid of them,” Curry said. “But, for the unvaccinated, it’s your only protection. And if people think that somehow it’s going to be magically safe to go to the grocery store, or the movie theater, or to the indoor musical concert, they’re going to find out the hard way that COVID is not gone from South Carolina.
“We’ve got a lot of people left to vaccinate/infect. And one of those things is going to happen to you in the next 24 months.”
Bluffton’s mask rules
Bluffton’s mask ordinance, which expires on Wednesday, required employees of retail businesses, salons, grocery stores and pharmacies to wear face masks when near the general public or close to other employees.
Violators were subject to a $50 civil fine.
The mask requirement applied to all people using public or commercial transportation and all employees interacting with people in outdoor spaces such as curbside pickup, delivery and service calls.
A separate motion to extend the town’s emergency operations plan failed without a vote Tuesday, effectively allowing officials to reopen town hall to the public. Interim Town Manager Scott Marshall said he planned to announce that reopening date next week.
An additional ordinance that allows the council to meet virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic is still in place. The Bluffton council approved in December a permanent ordinance that gives elected leaders the option to meet electronically — even after the council starts meeting in person.
What does ‘unincorporated’ mean?
Figuring out whether a mask is required in certain businesses can be tricky. Uneven growth in the municipalities has resulted in spotty jurisdictions and pockets of unincorporated territory in Beaufort County.
Bluffton, for example, has many “doughnut holes,” or areas that are not incorporated.
Although a business may have a Bluffton address, it may be in unincorporated Beaufort County. For example, the Walmart Supercenter at Bluffton Road and U.S. 278 is not within town limits.
To find out if you or your business is within the town’s limits, enter your address in the town’s “Am I in Bluffton” application.
Beaufort County’s public GIS mapping site includes municipal boundaries throughout the county.
This story was originally published April 13, 2021 at 7:43 PM.
