Hampton County schools to require masks for students, staff, visitors. What we know
The Hampton County School District will require all students, staff, teachers and visitors to wear masks while indoors on district property starting Monday, Superintendent Ronald Wilcox announced in a letter to employees and parents this week.
The mask requirement will be in effect during regular school hours and for all after-school educational programs until Jan. 20, the letter said.
“The mask is worn regardless of vaccination status,” the letter said.
Hampton County’s new mask mandate comes just more than a week after a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order that paused a state law aimed at preventing school districts from requiring masks. The S.C. Department of Education later released a statement that school districts can implement mask mandates.
Mask mandates have been one of the country’s most hotly debated and controversial topics throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. In S.C., the debate over masks has led to heated government meetings and roadside protests.
In one instance, Hilton Head Town Council members flanked by police were forced to adjourn a meeting early after anti-mask activists hijacked the debate.
Last week, nearby Beaufort County School District in a a 4-5-1 vote rejected a mask mandate for students and staff. In the vote, several board members expressed confusion over the dueling opinions released by state and federal courts.
In Hampton County, Wilcox’s letter cites the “circulating and [highly] contagious Delta variant” as the reason for school district’s new mandate. He said the school board will decide whether to extend the requirement beyond Jan. 20 at its Jan. 18 meeting.
Dr. Jane Kelly, assistant state epidemiologist, told reporters this week that the delta variant “remains strong” and has recently accounted for more than 97% of new COVID-19 cases in S.C. and the nation.
Cases, however, are dropping because of several factors, including a slow rise in vaccination rates, Kelly said. But she warned that “we can’t put this pandemic behind us yet.”
“I would caution people to not consider that we may have turned a corner, but rather to say ... ‘We have a downward trend that we hope to maintain.’
“We are all certainly concerned that with the upcoming winter holidays, people may be traveling, people may be getting together in indoor settings with other individuals who are not household members, and if people are not vaccinated, that’s certainly an additional risk.”
