Port Royal asks residents to mask up in public buildings. What about outdoor events?
The Town of Port Royal is the second Beaufort County municipality to return to requiring face masks in its government buildings because of a local uptick in COVID-19 cases.
Town Manager Van Willis asked Town Council’s input on requiring masks in public buildings during a Town Council meeting Wednesday.
“We all understand the Delta variant is a little bit different from COVID,” Willis said.
The Lowcountry recorded a spike in COVID-19 cases recently, as the super-contagious Delta variant spreads across the state, but experts say vaccines are still effective against the variant.
The county was listed as a COVID-19 “hotspot” in a Tuesday report from the Biden administration and reported a “rapid rise” in coronavirus cases Sunday over the previous two weeks.
As of Wednesday, 19.1% of COVID-19 tests in the state were reported positive, the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says 5% or less means there is a low level of community spread.
Mayor Joe DeVito said the town has such a small staff that losing even one employee to illness places a heavy load on others. He said he would rather require masks in town buildings rather than lock the doors as the town did earlier in the pandemic.
The council, he said, had no problem with Willis requiring masks in public buildings.
At Wednesday’s town council meeting, the distance between chairs was increased.
The town just opened up meetings to the public in July after members met for more than a year remotely and later in person but without the public.
“I do think its premature to close up public meetings,” Councilman Kevin Phillips said. “This is a good compromise.”
The decision requiring masks in the town’s public buildings comes two months after the town dropped its mask ordinance mandating face coverings in all public places.
Since Aug. 2, the city of Beaufort has required masks inside city-owned buildings. It is recommending that residents wear masks inside all buildings open to the public.
What about outdoor events?
While Port Royal is not requiring masks anywhere but its public buildings, DeVito urged residents to spread out when attending the town’s popular street music events. Randal Bramblett, who has played with rock legends including Bonnie Raitt, The Allman Brothers and Steve Winwood, is scheduled to perform at 6 p.m. Saturday.
The first street music performance on July 24 attracted around 1,000 people.
