Will Beaufort Co. municipalities require masks due to omicron surge? What we know
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COVID-19 in the Lowcountry
Here’s the latest on the omicron variant surge, COVID-19 guidance and more in the Lowcountry.
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The political appetite for public mask mandates seems to be long gone in Beaufort County, even though COVID-19 cases are surging to new heights.
Communitywide face-covering rules have become increasingly contentious during the nation’s pandemic response, and even with the omicron variant now sweeping across the Lowcountry, it appears unlikely that local governments will enact new mask mandates for indoor settings such as restaurants and grocery stores.
Beaufort County, as of Tuesday, was averaging 285 confirmed COVID-19 cases per day, which is a new record. Omicron, a super contagious variant that was discovered in southern Africa late last year, is sparking the latest wave of infections. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending that both fully vaccinated and unvaccinated county residents wear masks in public indoor spaces, citing the high level of COVID-19 spread. (The CDC has collected reams of data on the benefits of mask use during the pandemic.)
But there are still no plans to roll out new face-covering rules in Beaufort County, according to interviews with elected officials.
Why?
Here’s what we know.
Beaufort County
County Council Chair Joe Passiment on Tuesday said there currently are no plans to enact a new mask mandate in unincorporated Beaufort County.
“We’re very split on the County Council regarding masks,” Passiment said. “To do an emergency ordinance, we need at least two-thirds majority, or the approval of at least eight members.”
He added that a countywide mandate is difficult to enforce.
The county has reported more than 3,000 new COVID-19 cases since Jan. 1, according to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.
Hilton Head Island
Mayor John McCann said the town has no plans to create a new mask mandate.
“At this point, I believe it’s a personal responsibility” to wear a face covering, McCann said in a Monday interview.
McCann’s comments echoed what he had previously told The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette last summer, when he enacted a state of emergency due to the delta variant surge.
The state of emergency is still in effect, according to Town Clerk Krista Wiedmeyer. It allows the Town Council to meet virtually and allows Town Manager Marc Orlando to require that residents wear masks in Town Hall, among other town-owned buildings.
Masks were an emotional flashpoint on Hilton Head in 2021.
Anti-mask activists blasted the Town Council with a wave of vitriol and COVID-19 misinformation at an August meeting, forcing McCann to end it early. Elected officials left the chambers flanked by deputies from the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.
The newspapers in fall 2020 also reported on a growing — but still small — movement of local mask mandate opponents who had commandeered public comment and spammed the livestreams of local government meetings.
“I’ve had more contacts through email on this issue than any issue before,” Hilton Head Ward 5 representative Tom Lennox said at the time.
The Monmouth University Polling Institute in early December found that 55% of Americans supported “instituting or reinstituting” mask and social distancing guidelines in their states. That was down from 63% in September.
Since Jan. 1, the island’s 29926 ZIP code has recorded 282 new coronavirus cases, DHEC data show. There have been 186 infections, meanwhile, reported in the south-end 29928 ZIP code.
Bluffton
Bluffton has no plans to enact any new mask mandates, spokeswoman Debbie Szapanka said Tuesday.
But, Szapanka said, the town has a policy that requires residents to wear face coverings in Town Council chambers during public meetings. The meetings also must be held at no more than 50% capacity, she said.
Town Manager Stephen Steese said he made the decision to require masks at town meetings as COVID-19 cases began to spike at the beginning of this month.
Mayor Lisa Sulka did not immediately respond to a phone message Tuesday.
Bluffton’s ZIP code of 29910 has logged 727 infections since Jan. 1. That’s the highest case count in Beaufort County so far this year.
Beaufort
Beaufort Mayor Stephen Murray on Monday said there are no plans to enact new mask requirements in the city.
While omicron is spreading, the good news, Murray said, is “it doesn’t seem like it’s turning into inpatient hospitalizations.”
Even though the county recently logged a record-breaking number of new COVID-19 cases, with 543 infections confirmed on Saturday, inpatient counts at local hospitals have not spiked to the levels last seen during the 2021 delta variant surge.
Beaufort Memorial Hospital, as of Monday, was treating 12 coronavirus inpatients, with one of those people in the intensive care unit, according to spokeswoman Dee Robinson. (At one point in mid-September, during the delta surge, the hospital had 60 coronavirus inpatients.)
In interviews last week, local health care leaders said that anecdotally, omicron seems to produce milder disease than delta.
“From an outpatient perspective, this is the worst it’s been,” said hospital CEO Russell Baxley in a recent interview. “From an inpatient perspective, right now we’re doing OK.”
Murray also noted that the omicron peak in South Africa has passed without an overwhelming spike in hospital admissions.
(Some health experts, though, fear that omicron will still overwhelm U.S. hospitals with a deluge of inpatients, simply because of the sheer number of cases that it generates. The nation on Tuesday set a new record high for the number of COVID-19 inpatients in the country, with 145,982 such cases. Some medical centers, including in Delaware, have activated crisis standards of care, which means that health care systems can no longer provide normal, standard levels of care to patients due to a catastrophic public health event.)
Murray added that Beaufort continues to encourage residents to get vaccinated.
There have been 368 new COVID-19 cases reported in Beaufort’s 29902 ZIP code since Jan. 1, according to DHEC.
Port Royal
Port Royal Mayor Joe DeVito in a Monday interview said the town currently does not plan to enact a new mask mandate.
DeVito said residents are now better educated about masks than they were in 2020, when the town first passed a mask mandate, because there is more information available about face coverings.
“People understand the use of masks,” DeVito said.
The town, though, will revisit the mandate issue if there is a need, he added.
“We’re obviously watching,” he said.
Port Royal’s 29935 ZIP code has recorded 85 infections since Jan. 1, DHEC data show.
Yemassee
“There are no plans to enact a mask mandate in the town at this time,” Yemassee Town Manager Matt Garnes said Wednesday.
Mask mandates were not discussed at the Town Council’s Tuesday meeting, but the council chambers were restricted to 10 people because of the “exponential amount of COVID-19 cases and community transmission,” according to the meeting agenda.
The Beaufort County side of Yemassee’s 29945 ZIP code has seen 27 new coronavirus cases since Jan. 1, according to DHEC.
‘That authority is still in place’
Republican Gov. Henry McMaster issued an executive order in May 2021 that blocked local governments from using his COVID-19 state of emergency to support public mask mandates.
But McMaster’s executive order was issued under his state of emergency, which expired in June to little fanfare.
That means the executive order is no longer in effect.
McMaster, an outspoken critic of mask mandates, recently told reporters “there’s no need” to declare a new COVID-19 state of emergency.
Brian Symmes, a spokesman for McMaster, did not respond to a phone message Monday.
“Under home rule, municipal councils have the authority to enact mask mandates, if they choose to do that. That authority is still in place,” said Scott Slatton, director of advocacy and communications for the Municipal Association of South Carolina, in a Monday interview.
Data in this story are current as of Tuesday afternoon.
This story was originally published January 12, 2022 at 4:30 AM.
