As COVID-19 cases surge, City of Beaufort urges masks again, plus vaccinations
The City of Beaufort is recommending that residents wear masks inside buildings open to the public, and it will require masks inside city-owned buildings beginning Monday.
Residents, the city added, should get vaccinated, too, if they haven’t already.
A surge in COVID-19 positive cases, and more COVID-related hospitalizations at Beaufort Memorial Hospital, have prompted the city to urge mask wearing again, along with vaccinations, Mayor Stephen Murray said Thursday in a news release.
The hospital reports that it has seen a significant uptick in COVID patients, including more in the intensive care unit. Several people are on ventilators, Murray said.
“We are concerned about this new community spread of COVID-19, and the infection rate of the Delta variant,” Murray said.
The best way to stay safe is to get vaccinated, Murray said. The city also wants to support Beaufort Memorial Hospital, which released new pandemic visitor restrictions on Thursday, and “the hard-working medical staff there.”
“We don’t want our hospital to be overburdened by COVID patients,” Murray said.
In addition, the city is recommending that both customers and employees of retail locations and other businesses open to the public wear masks when inside a building.
Beginning Monday, the city will require that visitors to city facilities, including City Hall, wear masks and follow social distancing guidelines.
In April, the city’s mandatory mask ordinance, put in place in 2020 to limit the spread of COVID-19, was allowed to expire.
Recently, the COVID-19 Delta variant, which is more contagious than the original virus, has spread rapidly throughout the United States, especially in areas with lower vaccination rates, the city noted.
The state Department of Health and Environmental Control says 2.1 million people in South Carolina have received at least one vaccine, and 1.9 million are totally vaccinated, which amounts to 44.4% of the age 12+ population. In Beaufort County, about 49% of the total age 12+ population has been vaccinated.
Beaufort Memorial Hospital requires masks at all of its facilities. The hospital on Thursday released new visitor restrictions, citing the uptick in COVID-19 cases:
Hospital inpatients who do not have COVID-19, and are not suspected of having COVID-19, can have two visitors between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m., but only one person may visit at a time. Visitors must wear a mask at all times, regardless of vaccination status
Visitors will not be allowed to accompany patients into the emergency room. Exceptions will be made for the parents of minors and caregivers accompanying patients with disabilities
Visitors will be allowed into the intensive care unit only under “extenuating circumstances”
Pfizer vaccines are available for anyone 12 years of age or older. Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are available for all those 18 and older.
Studies have shown that these vaccines protect against severe cases of COVID-19, and lessen the chances of hospitalization and death, the city said.
This story was originally published July 29, 2021 at 2:19 PM.
